Chasing Yesterday
by KatStorm
Summary: Karma must love me. Just when I thought I was getting somewhere in life, I'm suddenly stuck in the year 2007 with a six-year-old sidekick, a supernatural serial killer, and a freakishly intelligent detective who's out to get me. Did I also mention this 'Beyond Birthday' person? Now all I have to do is get out alive, with my sanity intact. How hard could THAT be?
1. Dawn

_Hullo! *waves* I'm back again with another story, but this time for Death Note!_

_**Important notice:** This story takes place in 2038, so technology has advanced along with other things. ;)_

_And sadly, I don't own Death Note. Wish I did, but I don't.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Dawn<strong>

I glanced over at the woman who crouched next to me, her sapphire-blue eyes narrowed in concentrating. President of the United States of America Susan Robinson, also head of the mafia. We had been best friends in school, but this wasn't school. Real life is a rude awakening, I tell you.

"Suspect is in sight," Susan murmured into the com unit. I risked a swift glance around the grounds. We were currently located in Texas near the Mexican border. The remains of buildings lay around us in tatters- the only signs that showed that the vacant desert once held life. The two of us were crouched behind a rock protruding from the ground. I watched as the man stumbled over to the chain-length fence that separated two quarreling countries. Over the past few years, the USA and Mexico had gotten into heated battles so fierce that the mafia had had to interfere before another World War broke out. That was our current mission, anyways. And now, it would be completed.

My name is Katheryn Carpender, more commonly known as KC by the people of the world. The few people that know my real name (that are alive) are the President, the Vice President, my teacher (oh yeah, like I'm going to tell you said person's name) and, of course, my loctopus- an object of my own invention, named after a lock-picking gadget from a video game aired when I was a kid. I have wild, chin-length black hair that flares out at the tips and dark green eyes. And yes, people, _I am a woman._

I glanced up when Susan shot to her feet and bolted from cover, charging after the man. Dammit! I missed the signal! Ugh, that's what I get for focusing on narrating rather than the mission... Confused? I'll explain it later once I make sure that I just didn't get Susan killed.

I rolled out from behind the rock and into the shade of a another pile of dilapidated remains. I peered out around the sandstone, using a shard of glass I found on the ground. Good. The boss was still alive.

I watched as the man whirled around, shock clearly displayed on his face. I reached up and tapped the 'on' button on my com unit. "All systems go, Beta. Are Charlie and Delta ready? Over."

"Yes, KC, over," came the rugged reply. Alpha's leader's throat had been mangled in a mission and had never been the since then. Shortly after being released from the hospital, he came straight back to us. Once a member of the mafia, always a member. Just a little trivia for ya.

"Mathew Noel," Susan's voice crackled through the com unit in my ear. Around the back of the base of my neck, I felt the loctopus give a little shudder. "There's no where left for you to run."

"Well, well, well... if it isn't the President of the United States of America herself," the Subject's voice was nasally. "Still pretty to boot, eh? It still makes me wonder what got you into the position in the first place, your brains of your looks."

"Don't try to discomfort me, Noel. You know as well as I do that you're beating a dead horse with this. I'm not going to be like any other force that tried to arrest you, Noel. I'm just going to give you the truth to your face.

"I know you're not going to come quietly, so I'll let you in on a little secret: if you are going to resist, I'll kill you here with my bare hands."

Susan can be pretty badass when she feels like it, but she was taking a major risk with her wording. My thumbnail found its way to my lip- a nasty habit I haven't been able to shed.

The man pulled an ancient revolver from his belt and pointed it straight at Susan's heart. Thanks to our training, I didn't gasp or flinch, neither did Susan. Instead, she smiled.

"Are you really going to shoot me, Noel. I know you're murderer. I know you'd do it, no matter what I told you."

"Such flashy words, Mrs. President," the Subject sneered. "Could this mean that you're lacking your precious backup?"

Susan flinched.

_Now_.

I stood up from hiding and drew my own revolver- the same model as the Subject's.

"Hello everyone!"

The Subject and Susan jumped almost a foot in the air and whirled around to face me. I flashed them my pearly whites as I sauntered closer, allowing my arms to swing and the gun to flash into view.

The Subject "recovered" faster than Robinson and returned my smile with his own. "If it isn't the legend herself. KC- the famous detective and second in command of the mafia. Term's underboss, right? Guess that makes two purdah mafia ladies at my disposal, eh?"

I held the gun up. "Sorry, Noel, but the President is mine." I squeezed the trigger just as I focused my aim on Susan's chest. The force of the bullet knocked the blonde from her feet and she slammed into the ground, unmoving. The Subject gaped at me, too shocking to readjust his aim, which was still pointed at where Susan had stood mere moments before.

"You... you shot your own President!" he whispered, staring at me in awe.

I blew the smoke from the end of the barrel. "A job is a job."

The revolver snapped to attention. Sweat was running down his face in small rivets, his eyes darting back and forth between me and the body. Even though is entire body was shaking, his aim was steady.

I snorted. I'd done my research. The Subject's best (and only) weapon was a knife. When holding a gun, I knew he was bluffing. Smirking, I dropped my own firearm on the ground next to my feet. "Guess this is how it ends, huh?"

He blinked, momentarily caught off guard as his look of confusion morphed into one of shock as a gunshot rang out through the desert. Mathew Noel crumpled in a heap, blood gushing from the single shot in his head. I bent over and slipped the old-timer back into its holster at my side.

"Nice shot, Susan. Good acting as always," I turned to face the President just in time to witness her sit up, grinning like a madwoman.

"Same to you, KC. Always there with a snappy one-liner," she stood and brushed dirt from herself. "All Teams come in. The mission is done. I repeat; the mission is done. Over and out."

I grinned to myself. All in a day's work.

* * *

><p>Team Alpha threw open the door to Susan's office and led the way into the room. All conversation halted as the teams spilled into the the confined space. I remained in the hallway, eying the long, winding passageway through wary eyes. Once Susan was confident that everyone was assembled, she flicked a hand lazily and said, "Mr. Scythe, please step forward."<p>

A man I didn't recognize peeled away from the crowd to stand in front of me and Mrs. President. He was bald, gray-eyed and was dressed in an expensive looking tuxedo.

"It's a shame such a nice suit has to be wasted," sighed Susan with another flick of her hand. She turned and opened the door. The man frowned, eyes shifting nervously.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice shaking a little.

"Boys, you know what to do," her voice dropped into a silky purr as she left the room, drawing the door closed behind her.

As we walked down the hall, I didn't miss the scream of pain that echoed in our wake. Just another foreign spy trying to infiltrate the mafia. You'd think they would have learned by now.

"Tell me," said Susan in a hushed voice. "How have things been for you in Cosa Nostra?**(1)** What with everything I have to do, it's hard for me to keep up with my old friends nowadays."

"Actually, it's been dull lately," I replied in an undertone. The loctopus poked me, warningly. "All we've had to do is the Noel Case and preventing the war with Mexico. The world is pretty peaceful."

"Sounds like you're bored," she teased. It almost felt like we were back in high school, when we would tease each other. She would talk about how she would become President of the USA and head of the mafia at the same time; I would tell her about my dreams of becoming a famous investigator. We would laugh and joke around, giggling at each other's ideas. It seemed to long ago, now. Susan had matured past the giggling stage. She had finally reached her goal in life and, on top of it all, was maintaining a steady relationship with her husband, Derek Robinson. I honestly don't know how she did it.

"Now that Noel's dead, most of Cosa Nostra gets to take a well-deserved break," I scratched the back of my head. "We still need a few men to guard to the border day and night, but for the most part... *sigh* It's too peaceful. World peace wasn't suppose to have been logically possible, yet it seems to be staring us in the face." I chuckled drily. "I'm just finding it hard to believe that in 2038 we've achieved peace at last."

"I know what you mean," she replied almost darkly. "But I guess we have to look at the brighter sides of life. I get to go home for the night."

I smirked knowingly. "Tell Derek his favorite detective said hi."

* * *

><p>One of the downsides of being one of the best investigators in the world is that you're always on the move. There's always going to be someone hunting you, big or small. The minute you stay still, <em>boom!<em> You're dead. So another hotel it was. I dropped my single suitcase onto the bed and murmured into the com unit, "Shar, you swept the room, correct?"

"Yes." Shar was my... hmm... what could I call her? Maid? Servant? We weren't exactly friends. Imagine a mousy-haired girl with wide green eyes, punk clothing and a knack for picking a room clean before I stayed in it. That's her.

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair, spiking it even more, not like I cared. Well, the wildness I could deal with, the greasiness... not so much. Bleah.

I slid my purse from my shoulder and eased it onto the bed next to the suitcase. Without the lights on, I could easily see from all of the moonlight streaming in through the windows. Frowning, I strode over to them and yanked them shut. The room fell into a pitch-black obsidian.

I retraced my steps back over to the bed and flicked on the bedside lamp. Yellow light flooded through the room. As I unzipped my purse, I shot one last wary glance around the room. Old habits die hard.

I withdrew the familiar black object from my bag and tucked it under my arm. I ambled over to the tv stand and gently set the object down. With narrowed eyes, I bit my lip and thought hard, _hello again. Glad to see me?_

There was a tiny flash of pain in my neck, then a brilliant white light exploded behind my eyes. I grinned, despite myself. Some things just never get old.

I guess I'd better explain the odd trio of gadgets now. If mechanical engineering bores you or you'd just not in the mood, feel free to skip down to the paragraph with the first sentence in bold.

The black object is called a graphire. When I was in my early twenties, I'd found an ancient iPad4 in an alleyway, abandoned. Every since the iPad Platinum had come out, the older versions were being disregarded everywhere. For example, since the iPad Gold had come out, I'd seen the Platinums in thrift shops everywhere. (Hey, a woman needs time alone, y'know? And where is a better place to get it then at a thrift shop where she can be surrounded by memories?) You get the jist.

But anyways, I had been studying human anatomy at the time to learn the best ways to kill someone with your bare hands. So I got to thinking, what if there was a way for someone to communicate with said iPad without ever touching it, just by using their mind? That's where the collar comes in. (It's pronounced similar to the Spanish word for necklace, coe YAR)

The collar is a mix of copper and white gold and is worn closely to how one would wear a choker. It appears to be merely a tight-fitted piece of metal on the base of my neck, but in reality, there are tiny shards poking through my skin so that they can connect directly to the nerves. With me so far? If you're not, this next part is going to blow you mind.

Human nerves communicate with each other using electrical signals, similar to those in your tv or computer. So, why not blend technology and human anatomy?

The collar runs of the the energy you obtain when eating, therefor the user of the collar has to really load up on the goodies to keep from passing out. (I guess it's a good thing I'm a bit of a chocoholic.) The collar sends out signals of its own through the metal shards up to the user's brain and hitchhikes its merry may to the person's eyes. From there, it uses radar to alter the eye itself so that the images appear only on the graphire screen. The radiation from the radar interacting with my nerves then travels back to the collar where it sends a signal to the loctopus so that everything I see, Trey sees to.

Why did I name the loctopus Trey? Simple. It's a trio of gadgets and Trey refers to 'three.' Plus, Trey acts so much like a miniature conscience of mine that it's easy to mistake him as being alive. And yes, I've decided the loctopus is a 'he;' call me weird if you like.

But Trey isn't just an eight-legged machine that can pick locks in under ten seconds (that was his original purpose), he's also my miniature servant! Okay, I'm joking. If anyone nowadays was my friend, it would be the little loctopus. Sad, huh? (Not really. I'm sort of antisocial, anyways.)

Like the graphire, Trey can receive not only the information about what I see and do with the tablet, but he also absorbs the radio waves and uses them as energy. As I said earlier, the collar runs off of the user's energy, well, so does the graphire and the loctopus. They use the signals that they get from the collar to keep themselves running. With me so far?

Trey is also programmed to be controlled by a computer. So far, I haven't hooked him up to anything to test it out, so my theory could be wrong. But if I'm not mistaken, if wired correctly, Trey could be controlled by someone sitting at a desk, far from the action, in order to give the user instructions.

Other than that, I programmed him to be as human as possible. Though emotionless himself, he can sense the user's feelings and read their thoughts. (Attention to all possible users of the trio, these devices are not for those who like to keep their personal thoughts to themselves. Just throwing that out there.) The second the collar is on, the loctopus has access to every nook and cranny of the user's brain (but remember, even though he knows everything that you're doing, he has no power over your actions). And since he was programmed to act similar to a human...

Trey can talk. Well, he can talk to me. I'm the only one wearing the collar. (Plus, my collar is the only one out there. Prototype-ness. Yay...) His voice appears in my head like a memory resurfacing, as if I'd just remembered it. It took some practice, but I can finally understand him in all of the eighteen languages I'm fluent in. (And yeah, that took some time.)

You're probably wondering how my earlier mishap comes into play, aren't you? When I say I'm narrating, I actually am. Open Office is currently open on the graphire so that every thought, every emotion is recorded as a story (because I myself couldn't write a story if J.K Rowling herself was sitting next to me; Trey's the one that edits my babbling, so thank the loctopus).

So, you get the jist, right? Good. Moving on.

**...That was a mouthful. **It's sad when a trio of machinery takes longer to describe than the people. So all in all, Trey's my loctopus/conscience, the graphire's my "laptop" and the collar helps me control it all.

I stared down at the words on the screen.

Chapter One

I glanced over at the wo-

_Hey wait a minute! You're not suppose to type what I'm reading!_

_Sorry,_ had he been human, Trey would have rolled his eyes. The loctopus didn't seem keen on backspacing either. I rolled my eyes and plucked the spider-like machine from his place at the base of my neck and held him in the palm of my hand. Trey stared up at me defiantly.

_What?_

_ Oh, nothing,_ I thought absentmindedly. _I'm just trying to figure out how to get you to erase what you just typed._

An eraser appeared on the screen and started to scribble at the words written there. Despite myself, I cracked a grin. _Moron. Not like that._

He sent me a picture of a grin before backflipping out of my hand onto the desk. _You __need to check your email. Susan sent you a message._

_That can't be good..._ I gnawed my thumbnail as _Yahoo!_ flashed across the screen. It took a grand total of seven seconds to get my email up. The wonders of technology, people. We could change the world. Seriously.

My eyes scanned over the message, narrowed slightly. A sudden yip came from me as I bit down on my hand in shock, cutting the nail past the pink area. Out of the corner of my mind I saw blood blossom on the wound, but I didn't pay it any mind. I stared down at the message before me, eyes wide with horror.

Hey, Jessie, s'up? I was wondering... y'think we could meet up at the shop sometime and hang out? We haven't done it in a while and there's someone here that's dying to meet you! ;)

_ What the-? _My eyes narrowed at her use of my alias. _Someone important needs to see me before they die?_

"Trey, let's go," I instructed sharply, snatching up the graphire.

_Way ahead of ya._ The loctopus had catapulted onto the bed and already unzipped the first flap of the suitcase. I pulled the carrier from it, then stuffed the graphire in it. With a bat of my eyes, the screen inside of the bag went blank. I slipped into the vest-like straps of the carrier as Trey scurried up to his place at the base of my neck.

As I headed out the door, I swiped up the room key and shot one last look at the mirror positioned just above the bed. The familiar image stared back, though lately it was seeming less and less like my own.

Oh, well. I don't have time to be sentimental.

"Shar, prepare the vehicle. We're going to Nyala," I ordered into the com unit. There was a short "yes" on the other end, a crackle, then the sound of an engine running. As I strode out of the hotel, I couldn't help but wonder what ace Susan had stuffed up her sleeve this time.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, I found out that ace the very moment I set foot into the diner. Nyala was a classy diner, modeled after the older ones back before my time. It's walls were black and white with red and white tiles on the floor. There was a classy bar with wooden stools, leather booths, and a bar at the window (my personal favorite).<p>

And a russet-headed girl that glomped me when I opened the door.

"Auntie Jess!" the girl squealed, squeezing my legs together in a bone-crushing hug. Even with my training, I still flinched a little at the force behind the embrace.

"Hey there, kiddo," I patted her head uncertainly. _What the heck? Is this her idea of a joke? Susan's sense of humor sure has changed since high school..._

_ I don't think it's-_

"C'mon! Auntie Sue and Uncle Charlie are over here!" the girl interrupted Trey with another shriek and bolted for a couple sitting in a corner at the window bar, my hand clutched in a death grip. _Jeez... Who knew a kid her size could have so much strength behind it..?_

A glance at the pair confirmed my suspicions. "So, I'm the babysitter?"

I didn't the smirk that flashed across the bodyguard's face, though Susan's smile remained steady. However, her voice dropped noticeably. "Her parents are out of the picture for now, and probably will be for a while. I just received an urgent call from the President of Japan, something about the eastern rebellion breaking out again. Consider it your break."

_Her parents are dead, possibly former agents by the looks of the girl. Is that why she wants me to take care of her? So I can train her myself?_ "A break? Sounds more like an apprenticeship."

"What's an appera-ship-thingy?" asked the girl, cocking her head, her wide amber eyes staring up at me curiously. And warily.

"Shh. The grownups need to talk, kiddo," I whispered, then shot her a smile. "How about you order something while you wait? Their chocolate milkshakes are delicious."

"Uhh... okay!" The girl pulled a stool out and flopped down on it, then proceeded to spin in circles, squealing in delight.

"As we were saying," Susan's voice dropped so that I had to take a step closer in order to hear, "do you think you take her? I know it's a bit of a late notice, but she's obviously had some sort of training."

"What's her name?" I shot the kid a wary glance.

"Autumn Virginia Hall."

"Hmm... a descendant of Virginia Hall herself, I presume. The Halls have been in Cosa Nostra for as long as I can remember."

"Correct. If she works under you, I'm sure you'll have her living up to her name in no time," Susan's eyes betrayed the confidence her voice held.

_The parents,_ Trey nudged me.

"How did her folks die?"

"Heart attacks, both of them at the exact same time. The people around them just said that they suddenly collapsed simultaneously. Even though a news anchor was there, no one glanced their way. Not once."

"So _that's_ why their deaths were never broadcast through the news... That's a very large coincidence..." my thumbnail found my teeth once again. "Does she know?"

"Every detail. She took it quite well, too. She may be six but she's strong."

I stared at her, my brain slowly going over the details. _It would only make since to take her on. Then again, Susan's trying to kill two birds with one stone here: improving my social skills and tolerance for young children, and training a future KC, all at the same time._ To her, it was foolproof. Unless I killed the kid first. The russet-haired girl with spinning wildly in the chair, limbs flailing around as she let loose high-pitched squeals that were threatening to shatter my eardrums.

Trey wasn't offering much on his part.

I scratched the back of my head, noting from the mirror on the far wall the wild tuft that was sticking out at an odd angle. "You do realize that kind of life I live right now."

"Always." The reply was almost bitter.

"I guess I'll give it a shot."

"Really?" Relief exploded in the sapphire orbs and as she pulled me into a hug, thankfully not as tight as Autumn's. I felt her slip something into my pocket as I drew back, though I made no notice that I'd felt it. "But don't shoot her full of holes, okay?" Susan winked.

"Hey, I make no promises," I held up my hands.

* * *

><p>I am so glad I did not agree completely to Susan's request.<p>

"Stop jumping on the bed! You're going to break something!" I snapped for what seemed like the millionth time.

Okay, I can shoot the trigger off of a gun without even touching the hand that held the gun; I can hack into the most intricate servers; I can pass as a model or a "homie" without breaking a sweat. So how is it that my parenting skills got the short end of the stick? Beats me.

_Stop laughing at me!_ I cried in frustration as the loctopus rolled around on its back on the desk, its legs waving around. _You're no help at all..._

"But why not? It's fun!" the six-year-old pouted, flopping down onto her stomach. "Besides, we're not doing anything! Hey, can I set up my WiiTii?"

"Your _what?_"

"My WiiTii!"

"What the heck is a WiiTii..?" I grumbled.

"It's a more advanced version of a Wii!" she said excitedly. "It just came out last week!"

_So it's brand new and you already have it... Interesting..._ "Sure. Why not?"

"Yay!" the girl launched herself from the bed and over to the one of many suitcases that came with her. She dug through for a second then yanked a silver object from the mess and hopped over to the television.

_Oh, jeez... _I momentarily look control over Trey and peered over the edge of the desk to watch as the girl fiddled with the wires. She looked like she knew what she was doing, so I released my hold and took a few paces forward so I could watch over her shoulder.

_You could have warned me before you did that..._ muttered the loctopus.

I send him an absentminded apology, though my focus was still on Autumn. The girl's nimble hands shuffled through the sea of colors so fast that they appeared as a blur.

_Hmm... does she specialize in lock picking? Pickpocketing? Disabling mine fields?_

_ She's six._

_ I know. ...She's very good at what she does, too._ I eyed Autumn as she worked, right up until the six-year-old jerked backwards suddenly with a small "oops..."

That was the last thing I remembered before electric blue flashed across my vision and my head slammed against the carpeted floor.

* * *

><p><em><strong>(1)<strong> Cosa Nostra is the term members of the mafia say in place of 'the mafia.' It's almost like an inside joke at the office. ;)_

_So... good? Bad? If I didn't explain everything properly, don't hesitate to point it out. You might not be the only one confused. I also apologize for the blandness of this chapter. Introductions can be boring, especially if they're a good two pages long on a Word document. XD_

_Reviews are appreciated, but not required. Ciao for now!  
><em>


	2. Twisted

_Woohoo! Eight pages on Word! I'm trying out using longer chapters than I normally do since they seem to flow along more smoothly with my hectic schedule. I was listening to two very contradicting songs (_Time of Dying_ and _Move_) when I wrote this, so... At least you get to witness more of KC's talents in action. XD_

_I still don't own Death Note. *sigh* But i can dream, right..? :3  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Twisted<strong>

"I don't believe it... How is this woman still alive? She's been here almost a month and her blood sugar has gotten so low that we've started to give her three bags of sugar water a day."

"That can't be healthy... Either she has abnormally high metabolism or hypoglycemia... and I'll be willing to bet my money on the last one. How is the girl doing?"

"She's out of intensive care and seems to be pulling through."

"That's good. And about that- _nurse!_ Look at the heart monitor!"

There was a gasp. "My goodness! It's beating stronger and faster! She could be waking up soon!"

I heard the words before I made sense of them. And then I understood.

"Holy shizzles I'm at the hospital!" I shrieked. (And yes, I'm now aware of just how stupid I sounded then.) My eyes flew open only to see a pure-white ceiling. (Ugh, why is everything in a hospital white?) It was then that I became aware of the aching pain in my head. My hand felt my head gingerly with a small groan. "I feel suspiciously like that time when I was run over by an SUV... I wasn't hit by a van by any chance, was I?" I glanced around for the doctors to see a man and a woman standing at the foot of the bed, clipboards in hand, mouths hanging wide open.

"If you don't shut your mouths you're going to catch a few flies," I couldn't resist saying. Wait. Did I just say that? Did _Katheryn Carpender _just say that? Jeez... I sound like a little kid.

"Um... well then!" The man adjusted his glasses and peered down at the clipboard. "What is your name?"

"Jessica McGee," I replied, referring to my American alias.

"And how old are you?"

I tensed a little but replied anyways. "Twenty-seven..."

"Who is the current President of the United States of America?"

Ugh, where did this moron get his degree? Twenty Questions 101? "Susan Robinson."

Two pairs of eyes widened simultaneously. "Who?"

"Susan Robinson," I repeated with a sigh.

"Um... okay... How about the Vice President?"

"Wallace Truman."

Another baffled exchange. "How about head of the mafia?"

"Also Susan Robinson."

"FBI?"

"Mark Dwain."

"CIA?"

"Loretta Johnson."

"Best detective?"

_It's like an awards' ceremony at school!_ I couldn't help myself. Apparently they'd given me a lot more than sugar water in my IV. I burst into giggles, my hands flying to my mouth in a futile attempt to muffle the laughter. "KC! Duh!"

Their mouths dropped and their eyes seemed to bulge out of their heads. For a moment, they stood, gaping. The nurse looked like she could have passed out right then and there.

_ Wait_ . Why would-?

I swallowed my laughter and stared up at them from where I still lay on the bed, flat on my back. "What? Did I say something wrong?"

The doctors exchanged another mortified glance.

"Keeping secrets isn't funny, especially if it's about me," I crossed my arms, then winced as the IV was wound tight around my wrist. I tried folding my arms the other way. Ah, much better.

"Ms. McGee, what year is it?" asked the male slowly, as if speaking to a two-year-old.

"2038."

They stared at me.

"Okay, now I know something's up." My eyes narrowed. "What's going on?"

"Well, it appears that-"

"Auntie Jess!"

The door exploded inwards and a familiar figure shot into the room. Wild, auburn hair thrown back in a careless ponytail, amber eyes shining, purse slung over an arm, Autumn Virginia Hall stood in the middle of the room, grinning from ear to ear.

"Hi-ya, Auntie Jess!" she announced, lunging forward to give me another bone-crushing hug. My vision swam until the girl took a step back and opened her mouth-

As a barricade of words flooded from deep within her.

"Oh my gosh I was so worried they said that you were in intensive care I lot longer than I was so I wasn't allowed to see you until today 'cause for some reason they moved you to not-so-intensive-intensive care instead of the normal rooms and it turns out we've been here a month and I have no idea who found us and bought us here but we both own said person our lives 'cause if not we'd be dead and that would stink," she finished, taking a large gulp of air.

Dang. This girl sure gives a new meaning to the phrase "if you can't dazzle the world with your knowledge, baffle them with your bullshit."

I smiled, swiftly falling into the roll of the concerned aunt. "How are you feeling, hon?"

"My hands and head are sore, but the doctors say I'm fine!" she replied cheerfully.

"Um... ma'am? You're not permitted to be in here," warned the doctor. The blonde nurse stood frozen at his side, not moving a muscle.

"But she's my auntie!" Autumn stamped her foot. "'Sides, I don't take up a lotta room, so I'm not going to be in the way much!" She winked and ducked down behind the bed out of sight. I rolled my eyes.

"C'mon kiddo. If the nice doctor and nurse need you to get out I'm sure it'll be okay if you go to the lobby to walk around. You need to wear off a little energy anyways."

"I don't wanna go for a walk! The people here are creepy and keep staring at me and the doctors keep asking me the same questions over and over again!" she pouted. "It's all 'hey there little girl' and 'what year is it' and 'how did you get like this' and other stuff! Can't we just go home?"

"We'll be out of here as soon as the doctors say I'm ready to go," I promised.

"Yay!" Autumn flopped down at the end of the bed on her back and pulled her knees up close to her chest.

"Well, ahem.. If you're both in here, I'd like to ask you some questions together-"

"_I have to go to the bathroom!_" Autumn yelled, interrupting the doctor. She shot to her feet and disappeared into the miniature lavatory with a swoop.

And to think this kid is the descendant of a famous spy...

"Okay, lay me out," I sighed.

"Can you sit up?"

"I could, but I don't like sitting."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't." I eyed him. This guy sure was annoying. And who was he to ask why I didn't like to sit? Sheesh. It's called private information. Look it up.

"Could you sit up for us?"

"Now? No. Later? No. Never? Sounds good."

"Ms. McGee, if you would stop being difficult-"

"Okay, how about you tell me why sitting is going to change anything?" I snapped, then internally winced. Jeez. Something's _way_ off. It's like I can't control my emotions... Maybe...

_Trey..? Hey, Trey? Are you there..?_ I called out tentatively.

_'Ullo gov'na!_

_ Finally! Someone that doesn't think I'm insane!_

For that, the loctopus had no reply.

_Any ideas on why I'm acting like an amateur?_

_ You've been drugged. Valium._

I facepalmed. Jeez, I should have thought of that myself...

_ Valium? I thought that was a "care-free" drug._

_ Same here._

"Ms. McGee?" the nurse sounded alarmed. I looked up.

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just now realized why I'm acting so weird." Ack! It's not just my emotions! "And why did you deem it necessary to pump me full of Valium?"

Trey send me a picture of multiple people facepalming at once.

_Ah, a little help with controlling myself would be nice,_ I suggested.

_I can't get to you from where I currently am._

_ Where are you?_

_ Laboratory. The doctors searched your clothes and bag and found me and the graphire. We're both being watched nonstop. I can't even twitch without them pouring over me and sticking me with needles._

"_Shit!_" I screamed out loud, then covered my mouth with my hands. Ah! Cover story! Cover story! "Oh shit! What's in the bucket? What's in the bucket, in the bucket of shit? Mother fucker of- grapes in the grapes in the mouth! Grapes in the mouth make ya happy down south. Make ya get a big boner-" I broke off at their shocked looks. Maybe quoting the Rev wasn't the best idea. (Did I screw up the lines again? Mm, probably.)

"Look up the Rev, funniest quote of all time on YouTube," I said sheepishly. "I love the Rev. Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a laptop I could watch YouTube on, do you?"

_Don't worry, Trey. I'll just track the signal and get you out of there._

_ I'm losing the connection, KC! My battery's low! You need sugar of-_

And that was the last thing I heard from the loctopus.

Dammit.

"I'm starving," I said, then realized that my train of thought had wondered in the right direction for a change! Whoopie! "Is there anything sugary around here?" I looked up hopefully.

"Um, Ms. McGee? Do you have high metabolism or-"

"Yup! I can go for _days_ eating nothing but sugar and remain as healthy as horse!" And I have the graphire to thank for that. "Speaking of which, I'm really craving high glucose hot chocolate... Can someone get me a bag of brown sugar, a cup of coco and a pot of boiling water? Please?"

"I'm back! Did you finish the questions without me?" Autumn demanded as she exploded back into the room.

"No, ma'am, please have a seat," said the doctor as he adjusted his glasses.

Frowning, the girl flopped down next to me on the bed.

"Now, I've asked you mostly the same questions, and you've mostly given me the same answers. The year is 2039, right?"

"2038," corrected Autumn.

"And the President is Susan Robinson?"

"Yes," my eyes narrowed. (Is the graphire still writing this stuff down?)

The two exchanged a glance. "Well," the nurse started. "You're wrong."

I blinked. "So I fell into a coma and year is more like 2057, right?"

"The year is 2007."

Wait.

What the-?

"What the heck?" I blinked again. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

"Why would we be joking about such a thing?" the doctor frowned.

"Nevermind; continue," I waved a hand.

"Furthermore, Cassandra Hall, you died in a car accident two years ago when you were four," he pointed a pen at Autumn, "and you, Ms. McGee, should be by the side of the President right now in Japan as his personal translator. The current President is George Bush."

"The fu-" I broke off, remembering in time that I was under the watch of a six-year-old.

"Not only that, but during surgery we happened to notice the numerous wounds on the both of you, most of them were on Ms. McGee here. You appear to have been shot in your left shoulder a decade or so ago, been attacked by a wild animal in the right arm, four recent knife slashes on your stomach, a replacement kneecap for your right leg and scar tissue from a past surgery on your right calf. On top of that, Ms. Hall here has six identical vertical scars running down her back and one across her right shoulder blade. I want to know what's going on here."

I shrugged. "Beats me, pops. I just woke up from getting electrocuted while trying to set up a Wii system." I hope they had a Wii when I was a kid...

Apparently there was because the nurse cracked a grin. The doctor shot the woman a sharp look.

"Hey, now. Don't go glaring at her," I protested lightly, throwing my hands into the air. "I'm the elephant in the room. I can't even set up a measly gaming console without landing myself in the hospital."

It was then that I noticed the odd look Autumn was giving me.

"Ah... _so..!_ What's it take to get some chow in this joint?"

* * *

><p>"A week and a half in the hospital. Jeez..." I rubbed my wrists anxiously. "That took a hell of a lot of convincing..."<p>

"No kidding..." Autumn muttered. Over the past eleven days the doctors had beaten us down with questions until I tripped and "accidentally" knocked Autumn and myself down a flight of stairs. After pretending that our memories had fully returned, but they _still_ held us for another two days, as if we were suspicious. Needless to say, the pressure had taken its toll on the girl. I was mostly glad of our departure because it meant that no one would be sticking me full of needles that might contain Valium. I hate it when I don't have full control over myself.

Well, my human half, anyways. "Now to find Trey..." I sighed and ran my hands through my hair.

"Who's Trey?" asked Autumn softly.

"My other half," I responded with a quick glance around. Good. No one's watching. I swiftly explained the entire confusing shi-bang to her and- not surprisingly- she kept up pretty well. The girl did have the hands of a locksmith, so wiring was her forte.

"Can you track his signal through the collar?" she rolled the word off of her tongue, then grinned. "Collar. _Co_-llar. Collar. Collar-collar-collar-collar-collar-"

"Okay, okay, I get it! Sheesh!" I rolled my eyes, but mentally breathed a sigh of relief. She was returning to normal. Slowly, but returning none the less. "And yeah, I've got a pretty good idea of where he is, and how to get him back. Hmm... tell me, kid, have you ever watched any the Mission Impossible movies..?"

* * *

><p>If rappelling down an air shaft restrained by a six-year-old girl doesn't scare you, I don't know what does. Would that also mean that I have nerves of steel? Eh, whatever. It's not like that was relevant. Then again, I was more worried about her loosing the com unit then dropping me.<p>

Hey, it's what they tell you in the army. "Get yourself hurt before you even _think_ about denting your gun." Okay, so it's not a gun, more it sure as heck costs a lot more.

I dropped silently to the floor of the shaft, unhooked myself and gave the rope a single tug. The tangled mass retreated quickly from sight. I straightened out my outfit; all black, including the knee-high socks (shoes make too much noise, especially in a place that echoes). I could do without the ski mask, however, but it's not like I could traipse in here and throw precaution to the wind.

"I'm on the hotel roof now if you need backup, over." I had to be impressed. Strength _and_ rooftop parkour? Whoever taught this girl had my utmost respect.

"Loud and clear, ov," I murmured and crawled through the duct, resisting the urge to cough up a lung. With all of the dust in the vent, it was possible. No, seriously. I studied it in forensics, There was the guy who- you know what? I'm narrating again and forgetting that I'm still smack-dab in the middle of the action.

Boy, I'm smart. Bring out the medal, people!

Muffled voices came from the opening under me, but it was too light and cheery. Most likely a break room.

_Trey,_ I called. _Hey, wake up! I had an entire bag of Pixie Sticks not two hours ago, you lazy chump!_

_About time. I'm sending you a copy of my coordinates now._

Numbers and letters flashed through the back of my mind momentarily. _Thanks. A left, two rights, one down another left then I'm golden. What's the security level?_

_ On the ducts? Zilch._

_ Home free seems too easy, doesn't it?_

The loctopus seemed nervous. _No kidding, and do try to hurry._

I nodded, then realized he couldn't see nor feel my moments when he wasn't on me. I send him a thumbs up and continued to crawl.

Ugh, it just occurred to me that this could possibly be the most absurd thing I've done all day. I'm crawling through a vent to "save my other half from evil scientists." Jeez Louise...

It took a good ten minutes of scrambling around the shaft to find the right vent and another five to get the stupid grating off. I peered at the bolts in my hand. Not screws, like a normal vent, but actual lug nuts, like they were expecting something the size of Manhattan to come crashing through the ventilation. Hmm... again with the irony.

_Thought you said security was cheap. _I dropped to the floor as silently as I could. From my crouch I used peripheral vision to peer around the room, sweeping it clean. There were a million desks surrounding a glass dome in the center of the room. I could see edges of papers sticking out over the edges, most likely notes.

Dammit. They've probably already made a file for the trio in the forensics lab, possibly where the graphire is, too...

_For you it is,_ he replied. _I'm in the big glass dome in the center of the room, in case you're planning on breaking me out any time soon. You've already figured out where everything else is located._

_ Then let's get to busting, _I pulled out a pack of Juicy Fruit gum, unwrapped a stick and popped it into my mouth. Slowly, still remaining in a crouched position, I slipped over to the desks and swiped them clean, then stuffed the papers into my suit through the slit near the back of my neck. I could feel the gum start to warm up in my mouth so I hurried over to the glass, popped the gum out and slapped the bubbling material down on the cold surface.

_Hold on to your belongings, ladies and gentlemen! This place is about to blow!_ I thought cheerily as I shuffled backwards. _That should take care of the evidence... and pretty much everything else._ I saw Trey curl up into a solid spherical shape to protect himself as the glass began to steam. I took that chance to squeeze in behind a metal filing cabinet on the far wall, taking extra care to make sure that every bit of my body was in hiding.

When the explosion came, it rattled the building from head to toe. Shards of glass made their own miniature explosions as they shattered against the walls. I waited twenty seconds, then burst out of cover. Let's just say that there wasn't much of the room left intact.

See kiddies? Bubble gum _can_ be dangerous in more ways than choking, especially mine.

_Let's go, Trey!_ I held out my gloved fist as I darted past the remains of the table. The black loctopus took a flying leap and caught my hand just before I swept out of reach. I kicked down the remains of the already smashed door and leaped through, casting a swift glance around the hallway.

I bolted right, following the directions he gave me as I ran. It took roughly two minutes of turning corners before the alarm came on. Slow much? Sheesh. It was another minute before we reached the forensics lab. Again, they were lacking the necessary security. I was seriously considering to facepalm. No, make that to-whack-my-head-against-the-wall-so-many-times-I-bruise-my-head.

I kicked down the door to meet little resistance. The cheap wooden creation flew across the dark room and out of the steady stream of light flowing into the room. I felt the wall for a light switch, flicked it on and glanced around.

This is just too freaking easy. I was half hoping for a super-ninja to jump out and attack me with a stick. In other words, this particular heist was so pathetic I was mentally hoping for something I stop me.

Boredom. It's torturous.

I snatched up the graphire from the table (I forgot its technical term- the table, not the graphire- it's been years since I took forensics) and shoved it in my suit with the papers. Trey pushed the items down to my back and resumed his regular position at the base of my neck.

Looks like the gang's back together.

I smirked and pulled a glow-stick out of my sleeve. The supposedly harmless toy contained frozen acid that- when snapped- would use the energy from the break to heat itself. It would then slowly start to deteriorate the plastic within thirty seconds of being broken, then react with the gases produced and go straight from a solid to a plasma. The force of the change would blow the "glow-stick" to pieces, effectively scattering drops of reactive acids everywhere. The acid would continue to eat away at everything until they came into contact with a living organism.

Time to eliminate the rest of the evidence.

Now, I didn't really want to destroy _everything_ the scientists had worked on. If we _had_ gone back in time, I could accidentally blow up the future cure for cancer. (Oh, yeah, baby! The cure came out on my birthday in 2030! Random tidbit of the day.)

Holding the glow-stick delicately between my teeth, I ripped open the cabinet and skimmed the papers within. Well, Trey used my eyes to scan and read them within a nanosecond, but you get the picture. Nothing. I moved on to the next cabinet. The next. And the next. And the next. And the next. And finally, the last.

Zilch.

What the hell? Where are they? I know that I didn't pick up all of them back in that room... did I?

I raised my hand to my mouth then remembered I was wearing a glove and there was also a very reactive acid between my jaws. I swiftly maneuvered so that I was patting my head thoughtfully. Let the cameras ponder _that_ one.

Well, that leaves only one option left. Sorry future cancer patients.

I plucked the glow-stick from my mouth, snapped and dropped it on the floor in the middle of the room. As I fled the building, I couldn't help feel the twinge of guilt in my gut.

* * *

><p>"It really <em>is<em> 2007..." Autumn groaned loudly from where she lay flat on her back on the couch, feet propped up on the arm. She tossed the newspaper onto the coffee table and covered her face with her hands.

I had thoroughly washed my heist suit in the washer and finished drying it. The black textile now lay on top of my single suitcase next to Autumn's mountain of suitcases.

"Yes, it is..." I murmured as I leaned back against the wall, arms crossed. Trey nuzzled me affectionately before sinking the tips of his legs into my skin and shutting down- his version of sleeping; not that he really needed it. But I was more concerned about the fact that I could have killed millions of people in the past hour. That and the look... when I answered 'KC' to best detective... I gnawed my thumbnail.

_Could their be another detective out there as famous as me, if not more?_ I stared at the ground. _If so, how does he/she go about conducting their cases? Are they on sight, but out of sight? Do they flaunt their image to the world, or do they hide behind technology? Is he/she-_

"Jess, can we go somewhere?" begged the girl from the couch in a pleading voice. Since Shar wasn't here to sweep the room, we were being cautious and using out aliases. "_Please?_"

Go somewhere..?

I mouth dropped as I remembered Susan's words.

"_I just received an urgent call from the President of Japan, something about the eastern rebellion breaking out again."_

I turned to face the six-year-old with a large grin. "That has to be the best idea I've ever heard!"

"Really?" the girl looked up, beaming.

My bright grin melted into one of mischief. "Yep! So tell me... how well can you speak Japanese..?"


	3. Third Wheel

_Return of the plot! Mwahahahaha! *brandishes sword* BD Okay, I'm joking, but the plot does come out in this chapter, so at least you know where the story's going from now on. (For the most part anyways. I might have to twist the plot a few times... :3) I also tried to keep this particular chapter as close to the anime as possible so it's word-for-word (you'll know what I mean when you read). Major otaku moment..! ^^'  
><em>

_Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! You light up my world! :D_

_Random tidbit of the day (feel free to skip): I got a haircut this weekend that makes me look like Minnie May from the Gunsmith Cats. XD_

_I don't own Death Note. Still. *sigh*_

_**Important Note:** from now on- unless I say so- at the beginning of the chapter, KC will speaking Japanese and Autumn will be speaking English. ;) Just to clear up any confusion.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Third Wheel<strong>

Thankfully, I managed to keep what little money I had had in my pockets at the time of the... eh, how what should we call it? Major screw up? Failure with electronics? Ugh, whatever. But I managed to get my money back from the doctors at the hospital. Apparently finding six big ones in my pockets was shocking. It makes me what just what kind of people they see daily. (Not many undercover detectives, I suppose.)

I used three of the six hundred dollars to book a cheap flight for Autumn and I to tag along to Japan. I was hoping Susan and the rest of Air Force One was around here somewhere...

"I don't see why we had to come here..." muttered Autumn in English.

"Because we have to find Susan..." I replied lowly as we walked threw the crowded streets of the Kanto area.

"I love Japper!" she said loudly, momentarily changing to Japanese. I cracked a grin. "Like that?"

"You said Japper."

"Argh! Japanese is so confusing! At least I know 'can you please tell me where I can find the bathroom?'"

I inclined my head. "True." And that by itself took her almost the whole flight. Why again did Susan think that a _six-year-old_ would be a good apprentice? Scratch that. She probably thinks it's because kids learn faster when they're younger.

The plaza was cram-packed with people. Some were smiling, others were snarling under their breath, while others were milling about, chatting. Dressed in a silver trench coat, jade green T-shirt and emerald skirt, I hoped I wouldn't draw too much attention to myself. (Plus, skirts and trench coats are excellent for hiding weapons.) Autumn was wearing a pale orange top and a plaid skirt, her wavy hair thrown back in its trademark ponytail.

Okay, I'll admit. I hadn't been around this many people since the last meeting of the mafia I personally attended. But those were people we could trust, and I was wearing a red wig and enough makeup to kill someone. (Literally; I would know.) Here, I was out in the open, flashing my face to the world. It made me want to curl up in a little corner and gnaw my entire fingernail off. It's a good thing I'm not prone to spastic tendencies.

There was a crackle of static over the plasma TV and the crowd winced, then looked up. Some looked annoyed, some were rolling their eyes, some looked modestly curious. Having never personally witnessed a live Japanese broadcast, I glanced up curiously.

A newsman looked up, papers clutched in his fist and said in a slightly shaky voice, "We'd like to apologize for the interruption. As of now, we're bringing you a live, worldwide broadcast of the interpole at ICPO. We now take you live to the ICPO."

The crowd simultaneously murmured in shock. I blinked. I'd worked with the ICPO on a few cases. Intelligent people, but they weren't exactly the next Einstein. Still, if there was a live broadcast coming from them, something had to be up. My eyes narrowed.

The screen flashed as the picture changed to a man against a white background supporting the Earth. He had dark hair and matching eyes, which stared down at the crowd in the plaza with an air of superiority and contempt. "I head up an international police task force which includes all member nations. I am Lind L. Tailor, otherwise known as L."

The crowd let out a collective gasp and whispered filled the air. In the meantime, I was baffled.

L? I frowned. _Trey, bring up every search engine and find this L character._

_ On it, boss._ The loctopus complied almost instantly and images flashed through my brain. Web pages, drawings, the list went on and on.

_I guess we know why the doctors were shocked,_ I thought drily.

L was the world's greatest detective. Hiding behind a single letter- L- using the Old English font. He solved every single case he ever worked on, though for some reason the search engines didn't bring up any details about such cases.

L looked up from the desk and resumed speaking, so I pretty much put everything on hold. "Criminals around the world are being murdered by a serial killer."

_ What?_

"I consider this crime to be the most atrocious act in history and will not rest until the person and persons responsible are brought to justice. Kira, I will hunt you down, I will _find_ you."

_Kira? Who is the Kira person? The name is American, isn't it? Trey, look up Kira and anything pertaining to L in general. And try to do it discreetly, please. I need to hear this._

_ Got it._

"Kira, I've got a pretty good idea of what your motivation might be and I can guess what you hope to achieve. However, what you are doing right now is evil." There was a pause as L looked down at the desk, then a knowing smile spread across his face.

_That is not L._

I blinked, surprised that Trey reached a conclusion a nanosecond before me. _You got that too, didn't you?_

He sent me a nod.

And of course, he's right. Based on the information I just gathered, L would never show his face in public, especially on worldwide television; especially live. Logic says that he's lying- in more ways than one- or he's stupid and is telling the truth. I'd bet my money on the first one. So he would either be lying about his identity, lying about it being a worldwide broadcast, or lying about it being a live broadcast.

Maybe all three.

Guess there's only one way to find out.

I watched the screen eagerly along with the rest of the crowd, holding my breath. What would L do now?

Suddenly, the man let out a sharp noise, half moan, half yelp. His face contorted into one of shock, then he clutched his throat and dropped like a sack of bricks face-down on the desk. Autumn whimpered and clung to the hem of my skirt. I risked a swift glance down. Though she was trying to be strong, she _was_ only six. I rested my hand on her shoulder and gave her a soft smile, then looked back up at the screen.

Two men in black appeared onscreen and drug the limp body from the chair it had once sat in.

_Kira kills using heart attacks,_ whispered Trey.

_So he's dead._

_ Most likely._

_ But something isn't right... L doesn't seem like the type of person to- _I cut myself off as the screen flashed once more and a haunting image appeared.

L.

I grinned. I love being right.

"I... I had to test this interesting case but I... I never thought it would actually happen..." The computerized voice that spoke was rattled with shock. "Kira, it seems you can kill without having to be there in person. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't have just witnessed it. Listen to me, Kira, if you did indeed kill Lind L. Tailor, the man who you just saw die on television, I should tell you that he was an inmate whose execution was scheduled for today. That was not me."

Again, I love being right.

"The police arrested him in absolute secrecy so you wouldn't have heard about him on TV or through the internet. It appears that not even _you _have information about these types of criminals. But I assure you that L is real- _I_ am real; I _do _exist. Now... _try to kill me!_"

"Whoa." I blinked. Damn... he's taking this pretty far, isn't he? Even Trey seemed shocked. The entire crowd stood there silently, shocked.

"What's wrong? Hurry up! Right now! Kill me!"

His voice was lost as the people surrounding Autumn and I found their voices.

"What's going on?"

"Look! It's L versus Kira!"

"-on a real, live broadcast!"

"This is freaky!"

"Amazing!"

"Do it, Kira!"

Then L's voice- the real L's voice- rose above the crowd again.

"What's the matter? Can't you do it?" There was a pause. "Well, Kira. It seems that you can't kill me after all. So there are some people you can't kill... You've given me a useful hint..! Let me return the favor, I'll tell you something that I think you'll find interesting. Although this was announced as a worldwide broadcast, the truth is, we are only broadcasting in the Kanto region of Japan."

Damn! He's good! I couldn't help but feel a twinge of admiration.

"I had planned to broadcast this message around the world until we found you, but it looks like that won't be necessary. I now know where you are?"

"What's going on?" whimpered Autumn. I shushed her swiftly, then glanced back up at the television.

"The police treated your first killing as an unrelated incident, but in actuality the first of your victims was a suspect named Shibendu. Of all the criminals that recently died of heart attacks, this one's crime was by far the least serious. Furthermore, his crime was only ever reported inside Japan. I used that information to deduce this much: you are in Japan and your first victim was little more than... an experiment, which means that you haven't been killing for very long.

"We decided to broadcast in Kanto _first _because of its large population, and luckily, we found you. To be completely honest with you, I never expecting things would go _this _well. It won't be long now before I am able to sentence you to death."

Wow. This guy makes the mafia look like blundering idiots. (No offense to my fellow Cosa Nostrans.)

"Naturally, I'm very interested in how you're able to conduct these murders without being present... but I don't mind waiting a little bit longer. You can answer all of my questions when I catch you. Let's meet again soon... _Kira_."

* * *

><p>"Why did we have to go back to the hotel? Why was that broadcast about? What's going on?" asked Autumn fearfully.<p>

At that moment, only a sliver of me was paying attention to her. A tiny bit was realizing just how yin-yang our reactions to the broadcast were. She was scared to death while I was...

Freaking out.

I mean, come on! Apparently there's another detective out there who has a lick up sense and knows how to use it! (Maybe even better than myself, but that's besides the point.) How often does this chance come up? Let me think... Never.

It may be 2007, we may be in Japan, but by golly if I meet another detective with common sense I'll throw a freaking party.

Well, if I didn't have to use him, anyways.

"L is the other detective," I explained swiftly as I whipped out the graphire. I set it down on the table, powered it up and went straight to the internet. I continued talking as I typed. "Based on the live show-off we just witnessed, Kira is a serial killer who only needs a name and a face to kill. Judging by his choice of victims, he supports justice. But-" I held up a finger, "he has a very childish sense of the matter. Based on the broadcast, Kira is probably killed criminals to make the world a better place and could be young and naïve. Less than twenty-one, at least. Thanks to L, we now know that he's in Japan. And thanks to Susan, we're also in Japan. And somehow, by freaky coincidence, we're both in the Kanto region."

"Whoa," her eyes widened. "Does this mean that you're trying to try to catch Kira before L does?"

Dang. She's smart. "Yep. Better yet, I'm going to find L, too. Because Kira needs a name and a face to kill, L is safe since he hides behind a screen and uses the alias 'L.' What I need to do is drop hints for both sides evenly so that they can discover each other at the same time, then I can step in."

She frowned. "But that doesn't make since. How can you drop hints when you don't know who they are and are trying to catch Kira yourself?"

I grinned. "I think it's time you learned one of the many lessons of life. Kid, look around town sometime. Say there's a man in a black coat on your right and a woman in a red dress on your left. Do you trust these people? Of course not. You don't know them, nor do you care to know. I know some of the members of the ICPO, and they don't trust easily. You have to earn their trust time and time again. The same rules apply here. The Task Force and L may be working together, but do they really know each other? Have they ever met face to face? Judging by the broadcast, I'd say that they might have. But if not, it's only a matter of time before the ICPO gets frustrated with L and starts to investigate _him _along with Kira. If he's smart, Kira will wait on the sidelines and continue to kill criminals while the police investigate L."

"Wow. You got all of that from a single broadcast?" she ogled, wide-eyed. I nodded and began to gnaw my thumbnail thoughtfully.

"But in order to drop hints, I have to figure out who's who. But to do that would mean solving everything all at once and becoming a mere spectator who knows too much. Unfortunately, L seems like the type of person to not only cover his tracks, but completely erase their existence. When Trey looked him up, we couldn't find any details about a single one of the cases L solved, with the exception of his first one." I smirked. "It was interesting, I'll give it that, but I'm wandering off topic.

"Since my goal is to find Kira before L does, I'll have to get to know my opponent better. This leads to another problem: is L in Japan? Though he's being smart by staying back on the sidelines and letting the police to the dirty work, he doesn't have the full knowledge one gets from being there personally. That's where I have an advantage."

"It's not a very big one," the girl pointed out.

"True, but you have to remember- neither Kira nor L know each others identities, as far as we know. But someone else might..." I turned back to the graphire and looked down at the screen.

_famous recent cases L_

After typing in those words into Google, Bing and quite a few others, I skimmed the pages that followed. So far, so not so good. Most of it was rumors, fan stuff and other unreliable sources. Someone had even gone as far as to make L a Wikipedia page. I scoffed under my breath and continued to look.

Warm breath washed my left arm as Autumn slide into the empty chair next to me. "So you're looking for information that might have slipped out, right?"

"Sort of."

She frowned. "Why don't you just hack into the database of the mafia, CIA and FBI? Wouldn't they have files on L's cases?"

I facepalmed. Never before have I been pwned by a mere child.

Until now.

Talk about humiliation. Trey smirked.

_Shut up, you're not helping,_ I growled. (_Technically, I wasn't speaking,_ he replied.) Aloud I said, "Good idea. Even if they've changed the code in the past hour like they normally do I should still be able to hack based on the President."

I typed in 'George Bush American President wife birthday' into the search engine that was currently up and hit the enter key. Immediately, five million sites popped up. Jeez Louise. Talk about a lack of privacy. (Yet another reason why my paranoia would keep me from becoming President.) I clicked on a site I knew well and scanned the page. Once I found what I was looking for, I toggled to my homepage and typed in the private site for the mafia. (Yeah, right. Like I'm going to tell _you_. Who knows what you'd do if you knew.) Immediately the screen went black with the exception of the single box.

I hesitated, then swiftly stabbed at the keyboard. Numbers flashed across the screen, then the website popped up.

Holy schist. Our firewalls in 2007 _sucked_. And I'm not exaggerating.

"How did you do that?" Autumn gaped at the site. Apparently she knew about the site and its firewalls- or lack thereof.

I smirked. "The current President's spouse's birthday. It works most of the time."

It took Trey and I roughly, oh... a good _two hours _to sweep the site for any and all data on L. And after everything, we still came up blank. Guess our firewalls weren't so terrible after all. With a small sigh, I toggled back to the government page with the George Bush information on it.

Hmm... what if..? I copied everything in the box, toggled back to the mafia site and pasted it in the search bar. I hit the enter key and popped my back as we waited. Once the page finished loading, I scanned it thoroughly. No sign of Susan Robinson. So much for that idea.

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. Everything was moving so fast that I was barely able to keep up.

Enough complaining, there's work to be done.

I reached for the onscreen keyboard but a slender hand shot out, knocking mine aside. Autumn smiled up at me.

"Can I pretty _please _use the graphire?"

"No." Then it hit me (a little late, if I might add). "Wait. You can see what's on the screen?"

She grinned. "Nope! I'm just guessing, but you've probably already hacked the mafia's website- if they have one- and are moving on to something else since you look kind of disappointed. So, can I pretty _please _use it? Please with a cherry on top?"

"No," I growled and reached to snag the iPad4 only to meet her arm again. She must really want to get on my nerves.

"C'mon!" she whined. "You haven't let me have any fun in forever!"

"Get used to it," I reached again, this time managing the snatch the graphire from its perch. But Autumn's hand bumped mine, causing my finger to slip and grab the keyboard, rather than the side. The screen changed to a different search engine. "Great. Just great..." I growled and glared down at the black object.

Then I froze.

Somehow, someway, I had hit the keyboard just right. The 'George Bush American President wife' part must have been highlighted, leaving 'birthday' behind. From there, when my grip slipped, I must have hit the 'b' and...

_b birthday_

I stared down at the single link that popped up. The link that held the clue to everything, for under the title read, 'Description of the BB murder case of Los Angeles, 2005. Solved by L.'

A mad grin spread across my face. "He-_llo!_"

This was it. I had done it. No... we had done it. My apprentice and I. As a team. No matter how annoying she seemed, I couldn't forget that Autumn contributed in her own spastic ways, even if they were by accident.

Ah, crap. Now I'm getting all sentimental. Just click the damn link, KC!

Trey took the liberty and did it himself, then downloaded everything about the page straight to my brain.

BB; aka Beyond Birthday, aka Rue Ryuzaki, aka Backup. Schizophrenic serial killer whose killing pattern was incredibly... complex for someone of his nature. Currently residing in an asylum in San Francisco in a building all to himself because of his sudden "mood swings." But most importantly...

The only known person to know what L looks like.

_Well, well, well, Beyond. Looks like we'll be paying you a little visit,_ I smirked. _Trey, set us up for a flight to San Francisco to leave tomorrow morning around... seven..? I think that'll work._

Trey sent me a big grin and two thumbs up before fading away from my conscience.

I turned around and tugged Autumn into a hug.

"We did it, Autumn. We've found him," I whispered.

You will not get emotional. You will not get emotional. You will not get emotional. You will-

Screw this.

"We did it, kiddo. We've found L."

The six-year-old proceeded to crush all of the air from my lungs.

* * *

><p><em>So... whacha think? I'd love to hear some feedback on how I'm doing! Complements, critique, constructive comments, it's all welcome (except for flames).<em>


	4. Beyond the Limit

_Lookie, people! An update! :D Sorry for the wait, but I think an extra-long chapter will fix that! Out of all of the stories I'm currently writing, this chapter had to be the most fun to write out of them all, but I'm not going to say anything else about it! You'll just have to read! ;)_

_Lots of thanks to my reviewers! You make my day! :D_

_Songs I listened to why writing this chapter: _I'm Alive_- Becca; _Time of Dying_- 3 Days Grace; _You're Gonna Go Far, Kid_- The Offspring_

_I don't own Death Note, but have no fear, readers! I'll tell you when I do! ;3  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Beyond the Limit<strong>

We didn't feel like using up the rest of our six hundred, so... well, we were bad girls.

Okay, so we stole a plane.

…

Stealing a plane has never been so pleasant. No, I'm not going to tell you how we pulled it off. No, I'm not going to make you listen to my endless rambling and spastic muttering about finally getting known again. Yes, all of the above scared the every-living crap out of Autumn.

And yes, she enjoyed swiping a plane out from under the authorities' noses, too.

However, I will never trust myself behind the gears of a plane again. Even after Trey downloaded the entire contents of the _Plane Controls for Dummies_**(1)**, I still flew the giant aircraft like a drunkard. I think Autumn is scarred for life.

"How are we suppose to find the asylum..?" murmured Autumn under her breath as we stood on the balcony of our new hotel around noon. Yes, I know that we could have been shot down by an amateur sniper, but it's Los Angeles, people. C'mon. If you've never been there, you just wouldn't understand.

"Simple. According to mafia records, the only- sane- person known to be in contact with L is someone who goes by the alias Watari. So we strut in with the graphire supporting L's symbol, dressed in the trench coat and hat thing he wears and... _ask_ to speak with Beyond. And don't worry, I have everything we'll need right here," I tapped my purse with a knowing smile.

Her eyes widened. "Do I really have to go... _inside_ of that place..?"

"Of course not. You're going to be in a hotel miles away where you'll have no connection with us if something goes wrong. That way, if the police find you, they won't be able to pin anything on you."

"But... I want to help!" she burst out. "Just not _in_ the asylum!"

"Kid," I sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Anything and everything could go wrong at the drop of a hat. No matter what you want, you need to stay out of the line of fire, especially if you have the option. You're staying here come seven o'clock. No buts, and no following me. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am..." she whispered sadly.

"Cheer up," I tickled her side. The girl giggled and scooted backwards to escape. "You're not the one who has to have a slightly-sane conversation with a schizophrenic. According to records, he's completely insane and could go nuts and try to kill me at any time!"

Her eyes widened. Okay, maybe telling her that wasn't the best idea.

"Just stop worrying so much!" I nudged her gently.

A few more hours left... Just a few more, and then I'm bringing the house down.

I mentally grinned.

Party time, suckers.

* * *

><p>I like my trench coat because it's lightweight. The "Watari" coat? Not so much. Then again, I had to use the bulky thing to disguise my feminine qualities (though they're not very prominent anyways). I tipped the hat down so that it covered my face. I had already pulled my hair back into a measly bun under the textile out of sight, just in case. But I'm pretty sure Autumn saw right through my 'tough girl' act. Then again, I had a reason to be freaking out, right?<p>

From three to six I'd been altering the trio's programming and... I'd done something that _might_ work. If I didn't... Well, I'd been in some pretty deep schist. (A type of rock, for those of you who don't know, whose pronunciation sounds remarkably like the cuss word.)

I'd taken the collar off, altered its radar receiver and put it back on (and yes, it hurt like schist). I'd put it on lower so that it was positioned around my voice box. In other words, the collar was attached to my nerves _and_ my voice box. You can probably guess where this is going.

Yep. Thanks to technology, I'll now have a guy's voice.

Whoop-dee-doo...

"Testing... two, eight, sixty-nine. Good. Looks like it worked," I breathed a sigh of relief. My voice was deeper; rougher. Perfect. One less thing to worry me. I fixed my outfit one last time, then turned to Autumn. "So... how do I look..?"

"According to everything you've told me? Just like Watari."

I took a deep breath. "Good. No more time for procrastinating." I walked over to the door, then stopped, hand on the doorknob.

"...Autumn..?"

"Yeah?"

"If you want to help, hack into the websites of the CIA, FBI and mafia. Erase any and all files related to the BB case and BB in general. It would suck if Kira got to him before I did. The new password is-" I finished in a murmur, then walked out the door.

* * *

><p>No turning back.<p>

"W... Watari..?" the brunet at the desk gasped as he stared at me, pale blue eyes wide.

"Hello Shawn Truman," I said in my best monotone voice. "I wish to speak with the serial killer known as Beyond Birthday. Privately."

"Ah... okay... Give me just a minute please..."

No backing down.

"Room 573, top floor," the man handed the set the files on the desk and slid them across to me.

"Is this all of the written documents?" I asked, staring down at the measly pile of paperwork.

"Ah, I'm afraid you're not authorized to know that..." he stuttered.

Show time, buster. I grinned under my hat.

In response, I pulled the graphire out from under my coat and set it down on the desk. Slowly, I "opened" the fake laptop and the screen flickered to life. The cryptic symbol flashed black against the white background. The man froze, eyes wide.

"_Greetings, Shawn Truman. I am L._" Of course there was no real person hiding behind the screen this time, I was staring the guy straight in the eye. Using the collar and graphire, I'd reprogrammed it to voice only _certain_ thoughts of mine. Again- mind control is amazing. I used what I could remember from the voice filter L used over the broadcast and created a program that would imitate his voice over the graphire. Had to make use of those speakers for something, y'know?

And you people think a cram session at school is hard. Welcome to my world. "_Might I ask that you let Watari borrow all of Beyond's files?_"

"Ah, yes, sir!" the man picked up the phone and hastily dialed a number. Unknown to him, I frowned. I was kind of hoping _not_ to make a public spectacle. "Um... Jack? He's here."

Well, _crap_. That still wouldn't sound good if it came with a lifetime supply of pixie sticks. Oh well.

It took exactly three seconds after Truman hung up that the door burst open and a figure swept into the room. The man was tall and built like an ox. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed and ready to kill. His name tag read Jack Daniels.

But the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

I wiped my face of all emotions, just in case.

"You called, Shawn?" It took all of my self control not to laugh out loud. Okay, when faced with a real body builder, you'd expect him to have a deep, manly voice, right? Not our boy, Jack. Jack's voice resembled that of a schoolgirl's. It did. Seriously.

"L needs to see you-know-who," the man stuttered a bit. Jack's eyes narrowed as he looked me over.

"Watari. You haven't changed a bit," he shot me a toothy grin.

_Pathetic try at getting a reaction,_ I sneered silently. I picked up the "laptop" and turned around to face the man. He froze.

"_Greetings, Jack Daniels. You seem surprised. You know I would not come without good reason._"

"...L..! I... I wasn't expecting you to return so soon!" he stammered.

I frowned. "_'Return'? I do believe you're mistaken, Daniels. I have never been here before, only Watari._"

"R...right!"

"_That was a test, was it not? I do enjoy a good pop quiz every now and then._"

"Ah..."

"_I wish to borrow all of the files on Beyond Birthday, written and digital. Even the copies._"

"Of course!" the man shuffled behind the desk, opened it, pawed through the papers, then pulled out a book the size of a good encyclopedia. Now this is more like it.

"_Thank you, Daniels._" I picked up all of the files and slid them inside of my coat."_Now, I need for you to place Beyond Birthday in a room by himself without cameras or wire taps._"

"On it," the man hustled away. The silence was a little awkward for a few minutes, but I managed until he came back, panting.

"Room 580 is ready, L."

"_Thank you. Watari-_" I let the sentence hand in the air, then answered myself.

"Thank you for your time, gentlemen," I rumbled and swept past the man.

_Hmm... Room 580, floor 27. Wow. So they just moved him down the hall. Scary... I wonder if they'll have the same cheap security as the lab. Who knows? They might even have a lock or two. _

_ Don't get cocky,_ Trey warned.

I acknowledged him with the smallest of nods as I boarded the elevator. I stabbed the button almost carelessly with a gloved finger, then waited in silence as it ascended to the topmost floor. On the outside, I looked nothing like myself- my feelings matching. Yet on the inside, my heart was pounding against my ribs, as if they had a life of their own. My breathing, though steady, was difficult to keep under control.

Why was I getting so worked up? Was it the prospect of a challenge? Catching the world's greatest serial killer (Kira, not Beyond) and proving myself to the world once again? Showing up L?

There was only one other emotion: disappointment. Last time (if I could even call it that), Susan had been their to witness my coming. But now... is she _was_ alive... I didn't even know where the hell she was, much less if she could see me now. But the feeling itself wasn't much. I'd kept my emotional distance from Susan, though of line of work brought us together frequently. She was someone I knew. Nothing more, nothing less. And Autumn could take care of herself, so I had nothing to worry about.

...Right..?

The elevator doors opened and I took a deep breath, trying to stifle my ever-growing excitement. Well, not really _excitement_...

Screw it. Emotions are overrated.

I walked down the hallway, noting the dank look caused by the lack of windows. And why the hell did a serial killer need a whole freaking building to himself, anyways? Don't they have serial killers in asylums, or would this be another gap resulting from my nonexistent social life? I'll have to look into that sometime.

577... 578... 579... 580.

I halted and stretched out my hand, resting it lightly on the doorknob. On second thought... I reached up, tapped my hat to make sure it was still in place, and grabbed the doorknob again.

_Okay, old woman. Are you going to open the door or just keep standing here? I think I'm starting to deteriorate... I think I feel a little mold on my gears..._

I rolled my eyes. _Nice way to beat around the bush, Trey. You never disappoint me._

_ Why thank you, Mother!_

_ Okay, enough._ My eyes narrowed as my grip tightened, then I opened the door silently. Well, silently until the hinges squeaked.

Nice way to ruin the moment, door...

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me before I dared to look around. When I _did_ turn around, my sights fell on a man wearing a straitjacket tied to a chair. (Why am I not surprised?)

Beyond had messy, jet-black hair that came down just past his shoulders. His dark eyes- though haunted- held a sharp look to them. His complexion was pale- so pale that he resembled my idea of a ghost. The long, slender fingers poking out from under the right sleeve of the jacket were drawing slow circles in the palm of his hand. Burns scarred what little skin I could see, the scars themselves an even paler shade of white than the rest of him.

If there truly were zombies, I was staring the worst of them in the face.

The room itself was an odd shade of gray, the shade that made you wonder whether it was really gray at all. Other than B, I found nothing else in the room.

A twisted smile curled around the serial killer's face as he sized me up. For a minute, I thought he was going to ask me something, or laugh, but his next words caught me off guard.

"You have roughly five minutes before the cops burst in here and shoot you full of lead." His voice was ragged.

Unknown to him, I blinked. What the hell?

In the best response I could think up at the time, I pulled out the graphire and held it in front of me. The screen flashed again and his eyes narrowed in a swift attempt to readjust to the light.

And then it hit me. And boy, did it hit me hard.

What was I going to say? "Hello, B! I'm a detective that no one remembers because I'm from the future! I need to know more about the world's most famous detective so I can kick his ass and run away with the championship belt!"? Somehow, I don't see that one working. Maybe "Hello, B! I'm L, and as a sanity test I need for you to tell me about myself!"

Instead, I went with my third option.

"You have no contact with the outside world, B. You would have no way of knowing how long it would t-"

"_I don't believe that will be necessary, Watari._" Pause. "_Beyond Birthday. The World's... Greatest Criminal._" Too cocky? Better water it down to be on the safe side. "_I would say that it's a pleasure to meet you at last, but alas I am not there. I have, however, wanted to learn more about the person who fantasies himself as me._"

The smile disappeared and assumed a bored look. Beyond sighed, looked at the floor, and rubbed his feet together. "I overheard them talking as they moved me. Apparently, they think I'm deaf. But it's disappointing and intriguing at the same time. If you're going to pretend to be L you could at least do a better job."

I stood, speechless, as his dark brown eyes back up to my figure. How did he..?

"But I must admit that I'm impressed. There are many that seek L, wishing to find him for their own reasons, but you're the first to have gone this far. Either you're the bravest out there, the stupidest, or the most determined. Dressing up as Watari, bringing a fake L in-" he trailed off with a smirk.

Staring is rude, yes, but I don't always follow society's rules of life, anyways.

"Judging by your silence, I'm going to guess that I'm right."

I gnawed my lower lip, a temporary replacement for my thumb. Slowly, I closed the "laptop" and slid it into my jacket. Instead, I pulled out all of the written documents and tossed them at his feet.

"This is all of your written information, correct?" I growled.

He eyed it lazily. "_Sure_."

I pulled a diamond lighter (and no, I'm not kidding, kiddies, real diamonds; it keeps the metal detectors from going off) and a scrap of paper from my pocket. Slowly, so that he could watch (and possibly savor) every moment, I crumpled up the paper and twirled the lighter between my fingers.

_Should I hint about Autumn..?_ I thought warily. _If he's as smart as he's making it out to be, he might have already set his mind._

_Not for right now. Let him think you're alone._

_ How am I suppose to do that now that I've used the graphire in front of him?_

_ ...I'm not sure._

"Tell me what I need to know, and all of this can go away."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You don't need to bribe me. The files are still online."

Schist.

Guess I'm going to have to go all out to convince him.

_ Are you sure?_

_ Hell, no. But do I look like I have a choice? _

"You said that I was the first to go this far. Enlighten me," I spread my hands out in front of me.

"Tick tock," he smirked. "The men at the desk have probably figured out that you're not Watari by now and have already called the police. I'm afraid we won't have enough time to chat even if I was in the mood. Besides, why don't you just use the internet like everyone else to find him?"

I ground my teeth together. Strike two, KC. Think fast.

"I already checked. Even the web doesn't hold an answer to every question."

"Disappointing, huh?"

Strike three.

_KC..._

_ Trey, if something goes wrong, get back to Autumn. She may be able to take care of herself for the most part, but she is six. _

He sent me a grim nod.

I stepped forward, shoved the paper and lighter into my pocket. I pulled the hat from my head, allowing my face to show. Beyond's eyes widened at this and his gaze darted above my head for a fraction of a second. Then his smirk widened.

"Well, well, well... I certainly wasn't expecting to see you here. Voice filters work wonderfully, don't they, Katheryn Carpender?"

What the fucking hell!

I swiftly shoved my emotions down my throat and smirked back. "Good. You can read." Two can play that game, buddy boy.

He raised his eyebrows. "You're not even going to question how I know you're name when I've never seen you in my life?"

Dammit... I was kind of hoping he'd remember me, even if he was crazy.

"My name is KC," I rumbled as I fingered the hat. "I'm a detective and former underboss of the mafia. You can say I've come across some pretty strange things in my time."

His head tilted slightly at this one. "Do you like jam?"

I blinked. Jeez, change of subject, much? "Yes."

"What's your favorite flavor?"

"Favorites are biased," I responded automatically.

His eyes narrowed and a hint of a smile crept into his smirk. "You are a real piece of work, aren't you? But I'm afraid we're down to two minutes."

"On the websites of the FBI, CIA and mafia is says that, other than Watari, you're the only known person to have claimed that they know what L looks like, but they don't believe you because you have schizophrenia."

"Correct."

I eyed him almost curiously. "You don't act like it."

"Hmm... they seem to think that because I'd rather set myself on fire than go to jail that I'm mentally disabled."

I blinked sharply. So _that_ must be where he got the scars. _Trey, why didn't we know this?_

_ It wasn't in the file._

"Are _you_ schizophrenic?"

I looked up. "No."

"Yet you seemed to be talking to someone just now. It was as if you asked a question, but were annoyed at the answer you got."

_Okay, Trey. Please don't tell me that this freak is some kind of super genius because I have enough crap to deal with already._

The loctopus didn't respond.

"You're a woman of few words, aren't you?"

My eyes narrowed involuntarily. "Why waist breath with useless babbling?"

"You should be asking yourself that, Katheryn, not me."

"Call me KC."

"Why?"

It's what I've gone by for years, jerk! Sheesh... "Kira."

"Oh, yes. Him," B mused. "In Japanese women's names it means 'dark,' but for men it means 'sparkle.' Contradictory, if you ask me. I've wondered what it would be like to meet a fellow serial killer. We sure don't use the same techniques." His laugh sounded like nails on a chalkboard.

"He can kill with just a name and face, and since I'm-" I broke off when the killer's eyes suddenly narrowed. He looked my over, his head slowly tilting. "...What?"

"Your name... Katheryn Carpender..."

Oh, shit.

"That name..."

Oh, fucking shit. He recognizes me.

His eyes trailed up my body and rested on my face. "When the guards came to move me, I overheard them talking about the birth of an odd girl near this area. She had scruffy black hair, dark eyes, and a pale completion. Her parents were said to have appeared out of nowhere, in and out like a ghost, leaving their newborn baby girl behind with nothing but a note with her name. Katheryn Carpender."

The silence, though short, seemed to last forever as my history echoed in my head. "Hmm... sounds right."

_You said it out loud!_ Trey screamed, and I winced, both from the volume and realization.

Beyond smirked. "You're not telling me everything, are you, KC?"

Was it just my imagination, or was I hearing sirens in the background?

"Hmm... it seems that they've caught on to your little scheme."

Guess not.

"Dammit!" I hissed. _Trey, mess with their radios, or something! I need more time!_

_ I'm trying! I'm trying!_

I swore loudly and looked around, for no apparent reason, then back to Beyond. "Listen, I just-"

"Need information on L. Got it," he interrupted smoothly. "But you're forgetting something, aren't you? An eye for an eye? Tooth for a tooth?"

"You want info?" I was a little surprised.

"I want out."

I stiffened.

"I'm not breaking a serial killer out of an asylum. No way, no how," I snapped as I backpedaled for the door.

"C'mon. You won't get a better chance to find out," he raised his eyebrows. "You want to re-announce yourself to the world, correct?"

I froze and my eyes narrowed. "How-"

"Intuition," he shrugged, or as best he could with a straitjacket. "So, do we have a deal?"

I could now hear the sirens. Still faint, but more pronounced through the crappy walls.

"We don't have time to waste, KC."

_I am going to kill myself later for this..._

_ Wait, are you seriously-_

_ Trey, have you managed to hack their radio signals?_

_ Almost._

_ Do it now. Go all out._ I leaned back against the wall, my eyes flickering shut.

_Are you-_

_ Do it._

I could feel myself begin to go weak as the loctopus hooked all of his attention of most of mine onto the matter. Numbers and letters flashed through my mind as he worked, then the connection broke and I fell to the floor, gasping. In the back of my mind, Trey screamed something through the radio. But I didn't care what it was as long as it bought us some time.

I was really going to have to beat myself up for this. After this, I could definitely be called a critique. Or counterproductive. Take your pick. (But you know my reasons, right?)

"KC?" The schizophrenic sounded curious.

My eyes shot open and I shoved myself to my feet. "Beyond Birthday... we have a deal."

He grinned devilishly.

I clicked my lighter and set the documents on the floor aflame. They danced with a brilliant reddish-orange light that reflected off of the diamond dagger that I drew from under my coat. I lashed out with the knife, only half paying attention to what I was doing. Trey was still screaming at the police and it sounded like utter chaos on the other lines.

_KC?_

I jumped._ Is something wrong?_

_ Autumn just deleted all of BB's files._

"That's our cue," I said aloud with a final flick. "An accomplice of mine finished hacking all known sites with your information. You're a free man."

His eyes darted up to meet mine in a questioning glance.

"It would suck if Kira killed you before I managed to weasel some info out," I growled. "Don't take it personally."

"Wasn't planning on it," he ripped through the remains of the jacket and flexed his wrists. I waited for him to stretch, then held out the blade. He eyed it, looking amused. "You do realize that this is similar to giving a diabetic candy, or a drunkard alcohol, correct?"

"Yeah, so hurry up and take the damn thing before I change my mind," I snapped. He took the blade, eyed it, then twirled it between his fingers.

_KC? Are you feeling okay?_

_ A little dizzy, that's all. I just need sugar, that's all._

_ No, I meant your mental health. You do realized that you're a criminal too, right? You're an illegal immigrant in Japan, you've hijacked a plane, you hacked the websites for the mafia, CIA and FBI, you just had your apprentice wipe all of B's files so you could break him out of the asylum and now you've given a serial killer a knife. I'm worried._

_ You should be..._

_ I'm not joking._

_ Neither am I. Look, I just don't know what's going on. For some reason, I've come back to the year I was born and everything's different. I don't know anyone, so in my mind, nothing here is real. No one, nor anything. It's all a creepy dream._

_ What if it isn't?_

_ Then I'm going to use Beyond to help me learn more about L so that I can play to his weaknesses and trip him up so that he and Kira will be on the same level. Hopefully, if all goes according to the plan, we'll catch them when they catch each other._

_ This is crazy._

_ That's where you're wrong, Trey. This isn't crazy. This is stupid, illegal, badass and insane. Crazy isn't on the list of options._

_ Just don't get caught, okay?_

_ Relax. When have I ever been caught?_

_ Let's not start today._

"You know your way around the building faster, so you lead," I instructed as I threw open the door and rolled into the hallway, whipping out the dagger's twin and grasping it firmly in my palm.

"You just keep telling yourself that," he smirked and stepped out boldly, twirling the knife. "I know it's because you don't trust me at your back."

My eyes narrowed as he walked calmly down the hallway. I followed in a crouch, dagger at the ready. I watched as he boarded the elevator, then held it open as I dove inside. Just as the door were closing, I whipped a glow-stick out of my pocket, snapped it, and chucked it down the hallway as far as I could before the doors slammed in my face.

"Erasing evidence," I answered Beyond's raised eyebrow. "Acid stick. When snapped, it starts a chain reaction, like Hot Hands."

"But less heat and more destruction."

"Exactly."

Again with the quirky smile. "You've done this a time or two, haven't you?"

"Breaking a schizophrenic serial killer out of an asylum, no. Blowing up crap, heck yeah. Explosives and the mafia run hand in hand."

"So it seems..."

The elevator dinged once and I sprang from it, rolling to a halt right next to the front desk. Surprisingly, no bullets lashed at me.

Beyond was smirking as he stepped from the elevator, still twirling the knife. "They're all in the back room."

"Oh. How was I suppose to know?" I demanded, feeling stupid as I stood and brushed myself off.

"You wouldn't have. I just find it amusing that you're taking this so seriously."

"Why wouldn't I?"

His trademark smirk widened. (Is all this guy does is smirk or give people creepy smiles? Sheesh...)

"I'm beginning to reconsider our agreement already..." I rumbled as I slunk over to the door. "You're standing. Is the coast clear?"

"Every square area of sand."

I focused my glare on his face.

"I'm being serious. It's like they all went off and died..." he trailed off wistfully. Weird...

"I'll take that as a yes ma'am..." I muttered under my breath and kicked down the door. Motioning silently for B to follow, I bolted across the parking lot to the BMW I "borrowed." The Bug hadn't been touched and was sitting exactly where I left it. It was almost too perfect.

Then again, it may be bugged. Ugh. The fun never ends.

"C'mon," I hopped in anyways. I'd ditch it somewhere along route in a backyard, or something. I slapped the key and cranked the ignition as Beyond hopped in through the open passenger's side window _Dukes of Hazard_ style. (How is it that I can _still_ remember that TV show from high school?) I took a single moment to glance around, then stomped the gas pedal. The car leaped straight from park to an astounding speed on the road. I was half expecting for someone to pull us over for speeding. Make that another law I've broken in the past twenty-four hours.

I've really stepped over the line this time. Well, "stepped" is a nice way of putting it. More like "left behind in a cloud of dust." So much for limitations.

* * *

><p><em><strong>(1)<strong> I had to, I just had to! XD_

_Beyond Birthday-ness! ^^ _

_So, how did I do? Compliments, critique, it's all welcome (all but flames, who will be hidden in a place only B can find them)._

* * *

><p><em>Pop Quiz Time! Who can guess the three reasons for this chapter's name?<br>_


	5. Returning Fire

_Woohoo! Two updates for two different stories in one day! I'm on a roll! :D_ _Originally, this chapter was getting close to twenty pages long on Open Office so I cut it off early without changing the scenes. I also put in a little treat for you guys! ;)  
><em>

_AnimeVamp1997 and MikaUchiha666, you got two of three correct! The last was one _Beyond the Limit_, my favorite Beyond Birthday supporter. If you have time to look up the amazing artwork, you should._

_I don't own DN and most likely never will. ): But it means I can write fanfics for the rest of you! :D_

* * *

><p><strong>Returning Fire<strong>

I guess entering the hotel room from the balcony wasn't such a good idea after all, especially when it involved a shotgun in my face.

"Relax, kid, it's just me."

"KC!" The shocked girl let her arm go limp as the gun fell to her side. She watched, her amber eyes wide, as B and I clambered in from the rain, soaked to the bone with blood and water. I guess I shouldn't question her motives. Not every six-year-old girl is facing with wet and bloody people climbing up the side of a building to get into their hotel room. We had ditched the car halfway home in a river and run the rest of the way- and then it started raining. (Translation compliments of Trey: I drove the car into a creek when Beyond scared the shit out of me by shining a flashlight in my rear-view mirror. Then we had to run like hell before someone found us. When we finally reached the hotel, a good half hour later, we knew that no one would let us in at the front desk so we tried to climb the back terraces. But between the rain making everything slippery and Beyond being out of shape, it took forever and I got a little roughed up and was bleeding from large gashes on my forehead and right knee.)

Then again, where the heck did she get a _shotgun?_

"B, meet my apprentice, Autumn. Autumn, you've probably guessed who this is by now," I jerked a thumb at Beyond. "You hurt anywhere?"

"Just you," he chuckled. I bit back a retort, hung my trench coat over the back of the kitchen chair and watched as the tiny thing toppled over. "Screw it..." I muttered and slunk to the bathroom, trailing water behind me as I went. I snatched up a few towels, leaned out of the bathroom, took aim and chucked them at B. The yellow and blue squares of fluffiness hit the schizophrenic straight in the face but he caught them just before they fell to the floor. Autumn's mask slipped for a second as she giggled, then turned and faced me seriously.

"KC, why is he here?" she shot the serial killer a wary look.

"I screwed up and we ran out of time. End of story." I was dying to get the collar off of me. Water and electricity don't well together and it was giving my nerves hell. Before she could say anything else, I slammed the bathroom door shut and stood in front of the sink, hands clasping the edge. I took a deep breath, picked up the flathead screwdriver laying on the marble top and stuck it into the "lock" on the collar. I twisted it as hard as I could, resisting the urge to scream as my nerves caught fire, then it was over. The collar fell into my outstretched palm closely followed by Trey.

I really need to make the poor loctopus a battery so he doesn't die every time I take the collar off.

I scooped up the duo of metal, threw the door open and slipped out, rubbing my sore neck.

"It's almost nice to not be bugged," I murmured, noticing just how quiet and less active my mind seemed without Trey's every move being recorded. "I could get use to this... Hey, Autumn? Please tell me we have Pixie Sticks."

"Four whole bags. Why?"

I fell face-first down on the bed. "Ugh... I hacked a radio system and screwed with the polices' sanity. Lots of fun, if you ignore that fact that it drains me."

There was a soft bump against my side- the bag. I reached out, mumbling a soft 'thanks' to Autumn, only for my hand to brush ice-cold skin. I jumped straight into the air, landing on all fours on the bed, crouched. Beyond stood at the bedside, bag in hand, his empty hand outstretched.

"Jumpy?" he smirked and threw the bag. I caught it a nanosecond before it hit my face.

"Always," I responded with a wary glance at the bag.

"I didn't poison it, you know. I prefer to kill people with my own hands. Kira can go fu-"

"B!" I raised my eyebrows in a pointed look.

His dark gaze flitted over to the six-year-old. "Hmm... Swearing's out of the question, isn't it?"

I shot him a 'nah duh' look. I tore open the bag and downed half of the contents as fast as I could open the individual packets. I was beginning to feel a little more replenished, but no where close to my normal energy levels. It would have to do for now.

I set the bag on the nightstand and looked around- and only then did I notice that I was still dripped water and blood. "Oops..."

Beyond smirked. I shot him a death glare and stomped back him on my way to the bathroom for a shower.

"And don't even think about it," I warned, eyes narrowed as I stared to pull the door shut behind me.

"At least you don't sound like a man anymore," he eyed me coolly.

Bastard. I slammed the door.

* * *

><p>Emotion-wise, Beyond was baffled. Out of no where, this woman had appeared and confronted him without so much as a shudder. She also seemed to be silently speaking with someone, as if she were telepathic. Then she'd given him a knife. Who the hell hands a serial killer a knife? After that, she'd shamelessly destroyed all of the evidence of her going to the asylum (along with the asylum itself).<p>

Mildly curious, during the detective's spastic driving spree, he'd casually shown a flashlight in the rear view mirror, as if a car had fallen in behind them. What he didn't know was just how paranoid the psychotic woman was. She didn't even hesitate when she jerked the wheel, carrying the car right off of the road and into the small creek they had been about to cross. She'd then practically drug him from the car upstream to "escape" and insisted they ran the rest of the way. Once they reached the hotel, it was around eleven and KC left her room key in the room. She seemed pretty confident that they could climb up to the balcony using the fire escapes, other balconies and the terraces. The woman was possibly more insane than B himself, though her determination shown through loud and clear. She seemed to have done this before...

"Is she always like this?" Beyond asked in an amused tone.

The girl, Autumn, shot me a wary look, her fingers flickering around the trigger of the shotgun. (Did KC seriously let this kid have a gun?) "Maybe, maybe not."

_Stubborn. Should I teach her a lesson?_ B pulled out the knife KC had given him and looked it over more thoroughly. The dagger was made of diamond, both blade and handle. The blade was crystal-clear, looking so fragile that he could've sworn he could have snapped it like a toothpick. The handle was smokey diamond, so dark it could have passed as opaque. There was an intricate design on the handle that I didn't recognize, though it felt hauntingly familiar.

It didn't take a genius to figure out why she had it. She was one of _those_ detectives. The "on-site" ones who have to see everything for themselves. Undercover, yet not. And she couldn't always slip undetected through _every_ airport with a metal detector.

_Clever... and creative... Too bad her initials don't match up. She could have been the start of my next killing spree. Autumn, too. _His fingers were itching to shove the blade between someone's ribs and watch them die before his eyes. It had been too long since he'd killed and he could already begin to feel the bloodlust returning.

"Just remember that I can pull the trigger in less time than it takes you to stab me," the girl warned, amber eyes flashing.

"Your initials don't match my pattern," he blew off the threat easily. _And that's the _only_ reason you're still alive._ "I'm a serial killer, remember? Patterns are always important in my line of work. Not to be rude, but do you even know how to work that thing?"

She flicked the safety off and pointed it at his face. "Five bucks says the bullet goes straight through your eye socket."

"Violent, aren't you?" B smirked. Now _I see the common ground._

She shot a look at the bathroom door, then grinned mischievously. "Have you ever arm wrestled with a girl who can bench-press a hundred on a bad day?"

He returned the grin with one of his own crooked ones. "Nope, but it's not too late to start."

* * *

><p>Once I managed to get the bleeding under control, I finished up the shower, dressed, dried my hair and drug my exhausted self back into the main room. Surprisingly, I was met with a shining bed with new, fresh covers.<p>

I'm not exaggerating. The bed was shining. I swear it was. It was like a Black Butler moment when Sebastian does something so impressive that the impossible seems possible. (Another show I watched reruns of with Susan. It makes me wonder how many more of these useless shows I remember...) In other words, I'm so freaking tired that everything's swooning in and out of focus so badly that I think cloth has luster. That, or someone just replaced the sheets with a panel of glass and Alex Armstrong cologne.

Jeez... See, kiddies? This is why KC needs her sugar. Without it, she acts suspiciously like a schizophrenic herself.

I dropped my belt on the floor- taking care to slip the dagger out first, fell onto the clean bed and drug the bag of Pixie Sticks closer to myself. With a flick of the knife the bag and tops of the individual packaging fell away. I downed the remains of the bag in roughly ten seconds.

Dammit. Not enough...

I shoved myself back onto my feet, slumped over to the refrigerator, jerked the door open and snatched a six-pack of Mountain Dew on the tip of the dagger. I shut the fridge and belly-flopped back on the bed. I had just opened the first can, flipped onto my back and was just starting to gulp it down when loud chanting came from the other side of the room.

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"

I looked around- and then remembered that there were other people in the hotel room. Autumn was grinning, one fist pumping in the air in time to her yells, the one clutching Beyond's in what looked like a death grip. The schizophrenic's scarred hand was looking suspiciously blue. The serial killer himself was eying me with a practiced look of apathy. And amusement. (How the hell does he pull that off?)

I sighed. "Autumn, what did I tell you about arm wrestling?"

"I told him I can bench-press a hundred!" she whined. "He knew what he was getting into. And he's an adult!"

My eyes rolled to Beyond.

"It's _my_ hand who's lacking circulation."

"All the more reason to leave you to it," I smirked and gulped down the contents of the can.

"Chug! Chug! Chug!" Autumn resumed her chanting. I gulped down another can, feeling my strength slowly returning. Sometime during my fourth can, Beyond joined in, too. (We were probably going to get kicked out of the hotel soon.) At least the kid looked like she was enjoying herself. On request of my apprentice, I chugged the last can on a single breath. (Note to self: never do that again.)

"Ha! Chugging champion!" I pumped my fist into the air and threw the last can into the trash can. "Bulls-eye!"

"Yay!" Autumn squealed and threw up her hands, releasing the serial killer's in the process. He rubbed the blue one gratefully. I smirked.

I arched my back, and upon hearing multiple cracks and pops, shoved myself to my feet and slipped the dagger back into the belt on the floor. I turned and looked at my two companions- Well, an apprentice and a serial killer. Not much to go on, but a good start.

Wait.

I squinted and looked them over again.

Well crap! If we were forced together outside of the hotel, we'd be pretty noticeable. Autumn's bright eyes and hair stand out, along with B's wild hair and clothing choice...

A sly smile crept onto my face.

"Uh oh..." Autumn's eyes widened.

"I just now realized something. We'd stand out like a sore thumb in Japan. So here's the deal..."

Roughly ten seconds later:

"Oh, hell no!"

* * *

><p>Beyond touched his hair softly, as if it might turn and bite him. I stood back (far back on the other side of the room) and... Well, admired would be too strong of a word... Observed? Eyed? Looked over? Eh, whatever. I stood far, far away from the guy that tried to kill me when I washed and cut his hair. No, really. It's a good thing he's out of shape or I would have had more slashes and bites on my arms. (I seriously hope he isn't rabid...)<p>

At least the schizophrenic looked normal-er now. I'd cut his hair to between his chin and shoulders. It still looked a little spiky, but not as much now. I was going to do layers but I didn't anticipate him fighting_ that much_.

"I look almost exactly like how I did before they left me at the asylum," he mused, turned and picked up the dagger from the nightstand.

"A simple 'thanks' would be nice," I shot him a calculating look.

The coy smile returned as he spun the knife around in his hand. "Criminals have no thanks."

"Then I guess I'll have to shave you bald," I sighed and pulled the dagger's twin from my belt.

The serial killer's eyes flitted between the two blades and grinned one of his sick, twisted smiles. "Itching for a fight, aren't you?"

"You wanna fight?" A sneer curled around the corners of my mouth. Ooh, buddy. You picked the wrong girl to spar with.

"It's a good thing Autumn's in the bathroom, hmm?" he flicked the knife to his other hand and resumed twirling.

I could see his offer hang in the air. This could benefit us more than the kid could probably understand. Not only would it allow me to know what level of fighting B was currently on, but I would know his fighting style in general, weak spots and strengths. But there was always the possibility that he could kick my ass. (See, kiddies? Never give a schizophrenic serial killer a knife. It never turns out good.)

"What the heck, let's fight." Without another word, I took a small running start, dove headfirst across the bed and slammed into his legs. The killer sprawled to the floor as I flipped onto my feet, dropping swiftly into a battle stance. I was a little rusty, but Beyond was even more so. He sat up and wiped the blood from his forehead: a result of his head catching the edge of the nightstand as he went down.

"That was cheap," he growled and swung the knife experimentally. I parried and flicked my own blade, trying to dislodge his hold, but he had a pretty firm grip.

"He who strikes first has the element of surprise. Give your enemy time to prepare himself, and you have the same percentage all throughout. Also, it leaves them wondering if your defense is weak, therefor you must protect it." I dodged his counterattack and rolled backwards, skidding to a halt next to the kitchen table.

The serial killer advancing swiftly, even though he was out of shape. He lashed out with the speed and accuracy of a snake, but by now I could tell that there was no force behind it. I blocked, then ducked under his guard and brought my shoulder up into his gut. He staggered backwards, waving the dagger around to keep me form advancing. Instead, I took a quick step, hopped on the bed and flipped over his head. My landing wasn't nearly as impressive. I stumbled a little, barely managing to roll out the rest of the move. When I popped back up on my feet, my back was throbbing.

Guess that's what I get for trying to show off.

"Interesting. You prefer to use your momentum rather than strength," mused B, taking his time in sauntering over to me. "I, myself, like speed and accuracy."

"A deadly combination, when used correctly," I added. I tensed my muscles, then lashed out with a powerful roundhouse kick, meaning to disarm him, but at the last second, he flipped the blade around so that the flat side was sharp side was facing my foot. A perfect counterattack against one who uses momentum as their main strategy. Not so perfect for me.

I slammed my other foot down as hard as I could, resulting in me twisting around midair, smashing into the floor and tumbling to an uneasy halt at his feet. Before I knew it, a blade was pressed to my throat.

"Guess I win," the triumph in his voice was shining through, clear as day, along with something else... Blood lust.

Oh, shit.

Then the knife was gone, leaving only a small cut across my neck. It was over as quickly as it began. I stared up at him, heart pounding in my chest, but he was already walking away.

"Why?"

He stopped and glanced back over his shoulder.

"Why didn't you kill me?" I asked softly. "You could have, just now."

"I have my reasons," he twirled the dagger one last time before sliding it under his belt and stepping out onto the balcony.

* * *

><p>When Autumn's high-pitched squeal came, it was similar to the experience I had once of getting hit by a car. I moaned and covered my head with the pillow in a childish attempt to block it out. I was hurting all over and wasn't really in the mood for the six-year-old's games.<p>

_C'mon, KC. Up,_ urged Trey, who I'd fixed overnight and put on around five in the morning just before I fell asleep around five twenty.

_Bite me,_ I groaned, but to no avail. The loctopus crawled down my back sank all eight legs into my pressure point. I shrieked and launched myself to my feet, staggering a little when the blankets caught around my legs.

"Jeez, dammit, I'm up!" I snapped and wrenched the loctopus from my back, accidentally tearing a good-sized chunk off, too. I hissed under my breath and tossed the mechanism onto the nightstand. Eyes still closed, I gently ran a hand up under my shirt to feel out the damage. Not as much as I'd feared, but it still hurt.

_Great. Another wound. Thanks,_ I rolled my eyes.

_You do just realized that you rolled your eyes even though you have yet to open them, right?_

_ STFU... Dammit... I need sugar..._

I rubbed my eyes, slowly opened them and looked around for Pixie Sticks. Unfortunately, I wasn't greeted by the heavenly sight of flavored sugar but two amused faces staring back at me from where they sat on opposite sides of a chess board.

"Hmm... chess..." I mused. "Too early." I walked across the-

Well, I _tried_ to walk- and fell flat on my face, cracking my chin over the floor and acquiring a lovely amount of carpet burn. I growled under my breath, ripped myself free of the evil covers and chucked the entire mess back onto the bed.

"Not a morning person, I see," Beyond's amused voice floated up from behind me. I whirled around, jerked the knife out of my belt and held it up in front of my-

Wait.

My fist was empty.

_Where the fuck is my dagger?_ I screamed.

_How would I know?_

_ Goddammit! You're suppose to be my conscience!_

_ Conscience, yes. Memory, n-_

_ YES! Argh!_ I whirled around and glared at the loctopus, who lay innocently on the stand.

"_I will not hesitate to throw you from the balcony into the pool,_" I growled. And for those of you wondering, no. It isn't possible to fry someone alive by glaring at them. Trust me, if it was, my little invention would have died a very painful death right then and there.

Behind me, Autumn giggled. It took all of my self control to turn around slowly and say without screaming, "You too, kid."

Beyond eyed me with a look I didn't recognize. "And the psychiatrists thought _I_ was mentally unstable..."

I glowered at him. "And when did I-" Oh, right. I didn't. Oops... Guess I'll have to explain that. Instead, I hissed under my breath and stomped over to refrigerator. I yanked the door open- and frowned at the back of the fridge.

"Who ate my Pixie Sticks?"

"You ate them all last night," Autumn replied with a hint of a giggle.

"I ate _one bag_ last night," I corrected sharply.

"No, you ate all three."

I stopped and resisted the urge to facepalm as Trey smirked. This would be a long day.


	6. Shunkan Sentimental

_I am _so sorry_ for the long wait. I got a virus on my computer and it took forever to clean, then Photoshop started acting up and my entire laptop went all screwy. When I finally wrote this a week or so ago... my internet failed so I couldn't post it. DX_ _And I had to write this entire chapter without listening to any music, so I'm a little upset about that, too. Again, I'm very, very sorry for the wait._

_During my long update-less hiatus, I did not suddenly become the owner of anything, Death Note included. (Well, maybe a Kindle.^^)  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Shunkan Sentimental<strong>

_Shunkan Sentimental: Sentimental Moment._

I'll save you the boring details about me being a you-know-what in Wal-Mart, Beyond giving everyone creepy smiles and Autumn staking it out at the hotel. I'll also skip the part where we dyed Autumn's hair and she went nuts, and the second plane heist (because Social Services frowns upon that sort of thing, and I can assure you that I was _not_ the one behind the controls). Let's restart around the next hotel scene... (Is it just me, or does everything seem to be happening in a hotel lately? And no, I don't mean it like that, you perverted people...)

I stared down at the graphire through narrowed eyes, trying to make sense of the mess online. Authorities knew something was wrong. Bad wrong. They knew a schizophrenic serial killer was missing, just not _who_ the guy was. The men at the front desk called him Beyond Birthday, but who the heck would name their kid something like that? When they said he used the alias Rue Ryuzaki, they'd been sent to the nearest asylum in San Francisco.

And why did it say online that he'd been moved to the San Francisco Asylum when he'd been sent to the one in Los Angeles? I shook my head. People and their common sense nowadays. Or was it something deeper? A plot created by L to advert the common search? I gnawed my thumbnail thoughtfully.

L. Kira. Beyond Birthday. Rue Ryuzaki. I'd learned long ago that everything is connected, even if it doesn't look like it. What does an earthquake in Japan have in common with one in California? Simple. The Ring of Fire.

It's the little facts that people tend to miss because they don't know. Change everything that involves it, and they get turned around. This allows them to miss the big things.

_Rue Ryuzaki... I can't find anything else now that Autumn's deleted everything. _

_ I encountered that name in the file we first found on him when we were last in Japan. But why would he need to use a Japanese alias in America?_ I countered, equally.

_Test him. See if he responds. I don't know of any other way._

_ Sound tired, Trey. Do I need more sugar?_

_ Hey, you're the one who programmed me to have human-like tendencies. I'm just taking on the 'exhaustion' phase, caused by a confusing situation. If I were human, I would be getting a headache, but..._

_ No worries. Just keep recording, and make sure you re-download everything to my memory. It would suck if the moment I took off the collar I forgot everything. But it's time for some answers._

"Rue..?" I asked cautiously.

The serial killer opened an eye lazily from where he was lounging on the couch, twirling the dagger. "You've been doing your homework," he remarked, a small smirk forming.

"'Rue' sounds similar to the way the letter 'L' is said in the Japanese language. Is there a connection between that?"

"How about we start from... _square one_..?" There was something in his voice that reminded me or a cat's purr.

"Alright..." My eyes narrowed.

"But let's turn it into a game. Your little apprentice loves games," he smiled and, as if summoned by his words, the amber-eyed girl exploded into the room, all smiles.

"Auntie Jess! Look what I found!" she whispered not-so-quietly and threw a bag on the bed. The paper bag toppled over and spilled Pixie Sticks and...

"Jam?" I blinked as she pulled out four jars of strawberry jam, stuffing three in the fridge and tossing the last one across the room. I followed it, catching on, just as the schizophrenic snagged it midair.

"_Strawberry_ jam." He unscrewed the lid, reached inside and withdrew a red hand. He licked it slowly, eying me, waiting for a reaction.

Weird... but I've seen weirder. "I'm guessing you don't need a spoon."

He licked another digit.

I'll take that as a _no_... I snatched up a few Pixie Sticks and inhaled them on the spot. "Hey, kiddo. Wanna play a game?"

Autumn looked up, shock evident on her face. "A game?" Her face lit up. "Yeah! Whad'ya wanna play?" She leaped onto the bed eagerly.

I shot Beyond a look. "Hmm... how about Never Have I Ever?" The serial killer smiled slyly.

"Ooh! I know how to play that! Can we go into the negatives?" she asked happily as she bellyflopped, lollipop in hand. (Wait. Where did the lollipop come from?)

"Why not?" I propped myself up on my elbows and held up a hand. Beyond did the same, using the hand he was eating jam with. In the shadows, the jam looked suspiciously like blood.

"I wanna start!" The six-year-old crawled over to my side and flopped down on her stomach to imitate me. "Never have I ever... fallen from a roof!" She giggled, then blinked as both Beyond and I put a finger down. "You fell off a roof?"

I nodded and Beyond snorted.

"Roofs and I don't exactly get along," he smirked and scooped another handful of jam from the jar.

"My turn, I guess. Never have I ever..." I stopped to ponder. What information about L could I smuggle out of B, or even info about himself? "...been popular as a child."

No fingers went down.

"Really, kiddo? No popularity for you?" I smiled softly and gave her a light noogie. She shrunk away with a giggle.

"Home schooled," she grinned. "Your turn, B!"

"Hmm..." he licked another finger. "Never have I ever been lost in the woods in a foreign country."

What the..? I hadn't been expecting that one. Even Trey seemed stumped. I dropped a finger.

Autumn continued as if being lost was something she encountered every day- which she didn't, or at least that's what she was saying; all five fingers remained up. "Never have I ever burned my tongue on hot chocolate."

Both she and I dropped a finger. "I thought that idea was to be the last one in the positives," I teased.

She shrugged and sent me a bashful grin.

"Never have I ever... literally tied myself in a knot whole playing Twister," I said. Why not goof off a little? I was tense enough as is, and we're playing a freaking child's game. Yes, against my policy, but I'm pretty sure I was already out of my league. No fingers hit the dirt, but Beyond did look a little surprised.

"Never have I ever lost someone close to me."

What was it with loosing things? Autumn put down a finger.

"My parents," she said softly. I shot her as much a sympathetic look as I could. I'm not all that good with emotion-related things, as you've probably guessed already. "But on a lighter note, never have I ever set myself on fire!"

Beyond shot me am amused look as both our fingers hit the dirt. "What were you trying to do?"

"Make a point, and it was made pretty dang well," I smirked. "You? Never have I ever coughed and hiccuped at the same time." Autumn's finger went down.

"Never have I ever killed someone with a single piece of paper. It was a last resort. I didn't acquire these scars from my rabid fangirls."

_So _that's_ where he got them..._ I folded down my last finger with a sigh, as if I were disappointed. "I'm out."

"Aww!" Autumn pouted slightly, not even a little disturbed. "Never have I ever choked on a party streamer."

It went on and on throughout the remainder of the day, which wasn't much. During that entire time, B dodged almost everything I sent his way with practiced ease. (Well, the serious ones, anyway. He seemed to get over the haphazard ones pretty quickly.) The most I managed to get from him wasn't much to work with, but it was a start. We could talk more freely once the kid was asleep.

But waiting for her to pass out was another story.

It was almost as if the schizophrenic could sense my anticipation. He kept staring at me with that look that I'd come to recognize; the guarded look with a hint of amusement. It was all I could do not to leap across the bed and punch him right in the face, or at least slip him one of the many pills I had currently hidden inside of my sole of shoe.

Autumn rolled over with yet another sigh as I gnawed my thumbnail with renewed vigor. It was coming up on ten minutes since she'd first lain in bed. Yes, ten minutes doesn't seem like a lot, but I've been in many situations where it seems like a lifetime. I wanted to know about L, and I wanted to know _now_.

Trey had fallen "asleep" so he was of no help. Coward.

I was debating grounding my teeth together when Beyond spoke up in his ragged voice. "Looks nice outside. I think I'll get some air."

If I hadn't heard the poorly disguised code under his words, I might have snorted at his usual characterization of the word 'nice.' I watched as he ambled outside, jam in hand.

I waited a minute and thirty-seven seconds before I got up and went to the bathroom. I rattled a few bottles, turned on the water for a few seconds, picked up a towel with my toes and dropped it back on the tiled floor. I checked my watch. Two minutes had passed. I groaned.

_Yo, Trey. Wakey, wakey! I require your assistance, lazy bum! Do you think Autumn would try to eavesdrop if I went out now?_

_ Mmm..? Probably not. She's six._

_ And the descendant of a famous spy._

_ Ugh, do whatever you want to._

_ You've been awfully lazy lately. Should I be worried?_

_ You designed me._

I deadpanned. _Fine, fine. I see how it is. I'll eat as much sugar and drink as much caffeine as I can tomorrow._

_ Yay..._

_ Thanks for the support, other me..._ With a sigh, I opened the door softly and was met by the glorious sound of Autumn snoring softly. Cheering silently, I snuck across the room, tugged open the door to the balcony and stepped outside, shutting it tightly behind me. I took a deep breath and licked my lips as I turned around. On the other side of the balcony, a black-haired, chocolate-eyed schizophrenic serial killer stood, jam in hand, dagger shoved carelessly under his belt.

"This had better be good," I growled, crossing my arms and staring him down. "I busted you out of an asylum for this information, so if you think that giving me crap will get you a clean card for the rest of your life, you're dead wrong. Emphasis on _dead_."

"I do believe that's the longest threat you've ever said since you infiltrated the asylum," he smirked and licked his hand before sticking it back into the jar. My eyes narrowed. The silence lasted through another few mouthfuls of jam until the man sighed.

"Are you going to ask me anything or were you planning on glaring at me all night? Perhaps a rematch?" The knife seemed to leap from his belt into his hand.

I guess it's a good thing I've interrogated stubborn bastards before. "What does L look like?" I asked low, deciding to start with the basics.

The schizophrenic's head tilted as he pondered the question. "I've never seen him in person, but Linda has and she drew him out for me once."

_Linda..? Trey, you'd better be waking up right now. I've got a job for you._

_ Mgh... Fine, but you'd better get some sugar._

At that exact moment, my stomach rumbled loudly.

_You did that just to piss me off, didn't you?_

_ Actually, no._ The loctopus sounded amused.

Only then did I realize that Beyond had said something else and was staring at me questioningly.

"Sorry, spaced. What?" I recovered with a wave of my hand.

"Are you schizophrenic?" he asked as he stuck the blade of the dagger into the jar.

"I'm willing to bet that wasn't your previous statement," I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Are you?"

"As I told you before, _no_."

"I asked if you were planning on doing anything for that," he gestured with the jam-coated knife at my growling stomach.

This guy really doesn't know how to stay on topic, does he? I mentally deadpanned. "It can wait."

Suddenly, there was a flash of red and I threw up a hand. Something cold and hard thumped into it. I stared down at the jar of jam, then looked up at B, who was licking the blade apathetically. I raised the jar and an eyebrow.

He deadpanned. "It's jam."

"I know what it is."

"Well, are you just going to stand there and hold it?"

"You want me to eat it?" What the heck.

"_No_. I want you _dump it over your head_ and start _break dancing_," he said sarcastically.

With an aggravated eye twitch, I reached for the handle of the glass door to go back inside when he spoke up again.

"Well that was fast. Nice chatting with you."

"I'm going to get a spoon." I was very close to chucking the jar right at his head.

"Don't you ever take risks? Here," he flipped the dagger into the air, grasped it by the blade, then lofted it in my direction. I snagged it easily.

Of course I do, _but_- "Are you suggesting that I eat jam with a knife?"

He deadpanned again.

Okay, no doubt about it now. This guy is psycho.

_Ugh, Trey, if we all get out of this alive, remind me to turn myself in to a mental hospital._

_ You won't need reminding._

I slipped the knife into the jar, pulled it out and hesitantly licked the side of the blade. The flavor struck me as a little tangy, but nice in its own little way. It was similar to Mountain Dew in its fruity-ness (strawberries are a fruit, right?), and it lacked the sharp burst of flavor and energy that Pixie Sticks had. Still, it was good.

Huh. This has been the first time I've eaten jam in almost two years. I'd almost forgotten what it tasted like.

Smiling to myself, I flipped the blade over and licked the other side. The last time I ate jam...

_I was at Nyala with Susan. We were both wearing red wigs, a ton of makeup and matching sundresses, sitting in the very back in one of the diner's window seats. (Yeah, that's the only time I've willingly sat since I left high school.) The Arizona diner was packed full of people, mostly the locals. Tourists preferred to keep to the lively side of town where all of the attractions were. Oh well. More for us._

_ "This is the first time in a long time we've been able to get together," Susan said with a small smile. "It's almost like high school, all over again. You and me, sitting apart from the rest of the world..."_

_ "With the exception of Derek..." I added with a knowing smile. She kicked me lightly under the table. "What? He was _your_ boyfriend." _

_ She smiled dreamily, then returned to the real world. "What about you, Jess? You're turning thirty this April and you haven't settled down yet. Don't even try to say that someone hasn't caught your eye!"_

_ I shrugged, nonplussed. "You know I like to keep work and my personal life separate. I don't know how you do it."_

_ "True love can never be separated at the drop of a hat. We've both had to get our hands dirty at one time or another, but we stuck through it."_

_ "Plus, I've never really been good with emotions. You know me; thick as a plank of wood," I joked and attempted to stir my chocolate shake with a spoon._

_ She smiled coyly. "Oh, that's what you think right now. One of these days, the right guy will come alone and hit you right between the eyes, and then you'll know for sure."_

_ I was saved by the waiter, who ambled to our table with our food at that exact moment. I thanked the layed-back blonde generously and promptly dug into my double cheeseburger. I across the table to Susan, who was spreading strawberry jam on her toast._

_ "Toast for lunch?" I teased._

_ "Always," she shot me a smile._

_ "What's with the strawberry? I thought you only ate grape."_

_ Her eyes suddenly sparkled. "I don't know what it is, but without the seeds, strawberry jam tastes weird!"_

_ I burst out laughing. Some of the locals shot us wary looks, but I didn't care. "You've gone mad!" I laughed, allowing a hint of my British accent to slip in. (Okay, so I got stuck in England was for almost a year. Don't start pointing fingers.)_

_ "No, seriously!" she was giggling too. "I mean it! Here, try!" She pulled two different contains of jam from the holder on our table and tossed them onto my plate. One had seeds, the other seedless._

_ "You have gone mad," I shook my head sadly, but opened them anyways and popped them in my mouth. My eyes widened a little. "No way! You're right!"_

_ "See! I'm not mad!" she declared._

_ "But it's too fruity for my likes," I reached over and pulled another packet out, along with a packet of Splenda._

_ "Oh, good grief!" she laughed as I opened the jam, dumped it out onto my spoon, tore open the packet of artificial, poured it on the jam and popped the entire load in my mouth._

_ I nodded in approval. "Much better." I took a sip of my shake. "And even better with chocolate! See? Even the artificial crap makes a big difference!"_

_ Susan exploded into hysterical giggles while I stared at her, baffled._

_ "What? Was it something I said?"_

_ "'Artificial _crap_'!"_

_ Oh... Oh. Oh! _

_ By then, both of us were lost in our helpless laughter._

I smiled at the memory; the only time since Susan became President that we had been able to hang out and have a little bit of fun. Our first and only girls' night out.

"Click."

I jumped and looked up. Oops... I'd kinda forgotten Beyond was there. Oddly enough, the schizophrenic had his hands positioned weirdly, like he was... holding an invisible camera..? I stared blankly.

"Click," he repeated, pushing his forefinger down.

"What the heck are you doing?" I asked bluntly.

"Taking a mental picture," he replied, in a 'nah duh' tone. "Click."

"Why?"

"Pretty sure this will be the last time for a long time I'll be able to catch you in a sentimental moment, so..." he trailed off with another smirk. I swiftly wiped the smile off of my face. "By the way, you owe me a jar of jam."

I glanced down at the empty jar in my hands. What the-? Did I really eat all of that?

_Yes. Yes you did,_ Trey smirked.

_Shut up. Anything on Linda?_

_ Nope._

_ Then keep working._

I let out an irritated sigh, slipped the knife into the jar and set it down on the rickety plastic table on the balcony. "Describe L to me."

B dropped his hands and looked around. I watched, puzzled, as he pulled up a plastic chair and sat down, knees pulled into his chest, hands on his knees, thumb probing his mouth.

"He sits like this; hunched over, as if scared something is going to attack him. He stands in pretty much the same way." He stood, but not really stood up. He was hunched over, eyes peering up at me like a lost puppy (and I don't know a crappier analogy).

"Okay... What about physical features?" I asked as Trey copied everything to his hard drive.

"Hmm... almost identical to my own, but wilder hair and black eyes with bags under them. Usually dresses in a white long sleeve T-shirt and jeans; no shoes or socks."

"Personality?"

"Frightening similar to your own," he smirked, standing fully upright again. I raised my eyebrows. "He's more shadowed and paranoid than you, but he has his every emotion under check and definitely wouldn't run a car into a stream."

"You're going to hold a grudge over that, aren't you?" my eyes narrowed.

His grinned his infamously crooked grin. "Possibly. He also has a thing was anything sweet. L never eats anything but high-glucose junk food. At least, as far as I know."

"How is it that you know so much without ever meeting him?" I asked warily.

"The other kids and I talked to him once every year or so through the laptop Watari brought by. I was-"

"'Other kids'?" I questioned. "What other kids?"

"Oh. You don't know about Wammy's House, do you?"

"Wammy's House..?"

"Wammy's House Orphanage in Winchester, England. Never heard of it?"

"No..." And, as mentioned before, I was stuck in England for almost a year. How did I miss an orphanage in Winchester? Then again, I wouldn't exactly have a reason to go, would I?

He grinned a twisted grin. "This will be fun!"


	7. Stones and Apples

_O.O I am _so sorry_ for the freakishly long wait! My teachers_ _this semester are best friends with textbooks and homework. I never had a chance. DX But on a better note, here's another update! I would have put it up last night, but my internet was acting up and wouldn't let me do anything but log in and out._

_Thank you for all of the reviews! You make my world a much brighter place. ;)_

_**at AnimeVamp1997:** She might have to steal one a few more times, but she's done for now. As for getting stuck in England... one of her missions went wrong and her pilot crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. I didn't know what Never Have I Ever was until my friends brought it up during a game of How Do I Do This, Again? (Two people play a game, tell the others what the name of it is, then the other players have to guess the rules. If they get it right, they have to add their own lines. It's actually a really fun game. I learned Never Have I Ever, Green Glass Door, the Party Game, and a few others. Excuse my rambling, please!)  
><strong>at DiamondRainbows:<strong> Thank you! :)  
><strong>at ProfessorMoriarty221:<strong> Thanks, and I'll do my best!  
><em>

_During my hiatus, I did not suddenly become the owner of Death Note. Sadly._

* * *

><p><strong>Stones and Apples<strong>

A pounding headache awoke me the next morning. I opened my eyes with a soft groan and glanced around.

What the-

For some reason, I was lying sideways in a lawn chair on the balcony, feet propped up on the table where a jar of jam- minus a knife- sat, staring me back in the face. I rolled to the concrete floor, landed stiffly and staggered to my feet.

Ugh, why the heck am I outside..? I racked my mind, trying to conjure up some memory of the night before. There was Never Have I Ever... eating jam and remembering the diner in Arizona... and... there!

There it was. One of the most important memories my mind held.

L.

I smirked. Oh, yeah. It was so on.

And then the rest of my memory returned and my hopes dropped a level.

_Oh, yay, fun... So now we get to look for the world's best detective._

_ Hey, he's on top! That's a healthy way to look at it!_

I almost facepalmed. _Trey, is it really necessary to quote The Top of Number Ten, or whatever it was called? That didn't even make sense._

The loctopus simply sent me a cheerful smile. Slowly, I allowed the remainder of the night's events to replay in my mind.

* * *

><p>"So Wammy's House is basically where they make little L's so that, to the public, L never dies?"<p>

"Correct," the serial killer smirked. "They train us to be like him so that one day, one of us can take his place."

"And they went in order according to the alphabet, starting with A. So there was Alternate-"

"-who committed suicide-"

"-Backup-"

"-me, who ran away-"

"-and then they continued from there out," I finished. He nodded. "What about the other Wammy kids? Would C still be next in line?"

"Connect was a pushover. He was never good at anything."

"D?"

"A shy little pipsqueak. Most likely dead by now."

"E?"

A twisted smile curled the edge of Beyond's mouth. "You wanna hear what Roger knows or the _real_ story?"

"Let's skip it," I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "F?"

"Fortnight... I don't remember much about her. She was the oldest of us all, maybe just a few years younger than L... But she wasn't as smart as the rest of us, probably because she hadn't been brought to Wammy's House at a young age, like the rest of us."

"You keep saying 'the rest of us' like there were a _lot_ more of you," my eyes narrowed.

His dark chocolate eyes stared out at the city, memories flashing through them. A coy smile gripped him as he turned to face me. "We were at Linda before I left. She was the newest addition, having only been there for a week or so, but she'd seen L in person and sketched him out for me."

"I'm guessing it would be pointless to ask where the sketch is now."

"Correct. I ran it through a shredder- twice- burned it, and left half in the Atlantic Ocean and half in the Pacific."

Jeez. Sounds like something I would do. "Back to L... what are all of the cases he's taken on?"

"The Kira case, obviously, mine, and around 3,500 more."

I blinked. "Jeez Louise... So, is there anything else you can tell me about him?"

"How about you tell me what you know and I'll deduce from that?"

My eyes narrowed even more. "How would that help either of us?"

"Both sides of info out in the open." He shrugged. "Two minds are better than one, right?" He flashed me a grin and he slipped the dagger from the empty jar, licked off the remaining jam and began to twirl it between his fingers.

I eyed him warily. Tell him all I know... either he's lying and just making the Wammy House up; or he's telling the truth and wants to give his two cents; or he's secretly plotting to slit my throat, run off with the information and go kill L; or I'm just being paranoid- again. Oh well. I've already taken an insane quantity of risks, why stop now?

_Because your mind is slowly deteriorating?_ offered Trey helpfully.

_Because you have a job to do? _I shot back snidely. _Unless you have constructive comments, hush it._

I slowly gave Beyond a shortened version of what I'd witness in the plaza, and then my own deduction from it all.

"Hmm... L took a risk for once," B mused, "even if he _was_ still hidden behind the screen. And his other tactics... I can see why you want to meet him."

I blinked. When did I ever say I wanted to meet him? _Did_ I even want to meet him? "Huh?"

"Spacing out again?" there was a twinge of irritation in his rough voice. "I don't talk for the joy of hearing my own voice."

"No, you just surprised me," I waved it off. "When did I say I wanted to meet him?"

"Double meanings, Ms. Carpender."

"KC," I corrected automatically. "And how the hell do you know my name in the first place?"

"How is it that you were born just this year and are a full-grown woman?" he countered. The twirling of the blade grew faster, as if it were daring me. "An eye for an eye, _KC_."

Now he's just taunting me. I smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"We're never going to get anywhere if we keep hiding secrets from each other," he growled and sat in the chair, pulling his knees to his chest and eying me.

I glared at him. "And sitting like L is going to change anything?"

"Whoopsie daisy. Old habits die hard. Guess it's slowly coming back, lack of straitjacket and all," the serial killer made no move to alter his posture. I almost deadpanned at the childish saying. Almost, but not quite.

We sat there in silence- well, I stood, but you get the picture.

After a few minutes, Beyond broke the silence. "How about you start with that spider thing on the back of your neck?"

I just barely managed to refrain from gaping at him. Instead, I stared at him suspiciously. "How did you-"

"You threatened to 'throw it from the balcony into the pool,' if I remember correctly," he smirked.

"Oh." Definitely _not_ my shining moment. I scratched the back of my head with a roll of my eyes. "Yep. And I would have, too."

He raised his eyebrows, encouraging me to continue.

"Okay, so... um..." Oops. I guess I kinda forgot what I was going to say...

Trey sent me a helpful picture of Susan, Alpha General and the rest of the mafia representatives heading their desks multiple times.

"Oh!" I jumped, suddenly making the connection. So that's why it never bother me! Beyond's-

"What?" B asked placidly.

"Huh?" I blinked.

"You said 'oh.'"

"I did, didn't I..?" I mused. Huh. Beyond's voice sounded almost identical to Team Alpha's leader's voice. The same, once-deep sound hidden behind permanently scarred vocal cords. (At least, I _think_ Beyond's was permanent...) "Nothing, just realized something unimportant."

"Like what?"

I shot him an annoyed look. "You were asking about the loctopus..?"

He snorted. "The what?"

"The loctopus, Trey."

_The heck! What ever happened to 'don't tell outsiders about the poor, little loctopus? Am I just an unwanted piece of-_

Trey was broken off as I moved my hand from scratching my head to the base of my neck, grabbed the spider-like mechanism and tossed him lightly onto the rickety table. Trey hissed in my mind as he rolled around on his back for a moment, then managed to flip himself back onto his legs. He whirled around, his main cameras focusing on my face.

I shrugged. "Don't glare at me."

The loctopus flipped me off and started to do something else before Beyond reached across the table and picked him up between his forefinger and thumb. I watched, amused, as the eight legs flailed around, desperately searching for a grip while the loctopus proceeded to cuss me out in every language the two of us knew.

"Interesting," the serial killer's eyes widened a hint as he set the mechanism back on the table. Immediately, the loctopus fled to the jar and hid behind it. I snorted.

"He's a coward."

"How does it work?" B eyed Trey but made no move towards him this time.

I hesitated, but what the hey? Why not just spill everything? (Well, everything that I have an answer to, anyways.)

I gave him the shortened version of the mechanism. Whilst I was talking, I noticed his smirk growing wider by the second, so that when I finished, I was half blinded.

"What are you so smug about?" I broke off my current sentence- my crappy summery- and stared at him.

"That explains why you always seem so distant," he replied.

* * *

><p>From there on out, my memory had gotten more and more patchy, and the last few minutes of conscientiousness had blurred together completely. We made small talk about something, then something else- Argh! What a time for my mind to fail me... Ugh. At least we didn't go off and kill someone.<p>

At least, I hope we didn't...

I limped back into the hotel room, more from my left ankle refusing to hold my weight than the odd pain in my side. But between the two, I felt like the entire world's weight had suddenly been transferred to my right leg and I had somehow ended up walking sideways on a wall.

"Rough night?" Beyond was eating jam with the dagger while Autumn was typing away on a Toshiba. The schizophrenic eyed me, his trademark smirk widening slightly when I came to an unsteady halt.

I ignored him and turned to the girl. "Yo, kiddo. Where'd you get that?" I motioned to the laptop.

"A man traveling to Florence, Italy will be missing it in roughly two hours," she replied brightly.

My eyebrows shot to my hairline. _Don't say a word, KC. Don't don't open your mouth. _But I'm not the best person at listening to my own advise. "Do I want to know?"

"Nope!" she giggled.

"Well then," I clapped my hands together and rubbed them in a cliché move. "Let's get this party started!"

B shot me a look that clearly said, 'are you insane?'

I smirked. Oh, yeah, buddy. If you think this is bad, try me after I've inhaled ten energy drinks, five bags of Pixie Sticks and two six-packs of Mountain Dew. (And Susan had never trusted me with Amp since.)

"So, first thing's first: We. Need. Aliases. I researched a little and found a few names that could work. Rue, you're keeping yours. If L recognizes it, we'll use you as bait to lure him in so that we can find him. Kid, you name's Kyona from now on, and I'm Ishi."

"So we start calling each other by our Japanese names now?" Beyond eyed me as he licked the jam-coated blade.

I nodded. "Even in our hotel rooms. There's a chance they could be bugged."

But Autumn saw another problem entirely. "What about our last names? We all look pretty much the same; we could prob'ly pass as a family-"

"Except for that neither you nor Rue can speak Japanese, much less put on an accent. You're Rue's niece, and I'm his fiance," I ran over what little details I could remember from the fuzziness of the night conversion. "You're parents died so you came to live with your uncle, but you were both born in Tokyo, thus your Japanese names. Only give out this information in dire situation."

"What about you?" Autumn frowned.

I blinked. Jeez... is this even the same kid? I could have sworn we've not been together all that long, and she's already warmed up to me? It makes you wonder...

I shot her a wink. "_,Kodomo o shinpaishinaide kudasai. Watashi wa daijōbudesu._"

"Okay!" she beamed and returned her gaze to the laptop. Jeez... It really doesn't take a lot to convince her, does it?

"So, any questions?"

_Yeah, why couldn't I get a word in edgewise?_

_ Because you're annoying, that's why,_ I smirked. For once, it seemed like things might actually be going my way...


	8. Preparations

_Hullo again! I finally managed to find time in my busy schedule to write/post another chapter, and now the plot lives on!  
><em>

_In this chapter, it mentions the Japanese currency, "yen." 100 yen is equal to roughly one American dollar, 500 is similar to five dollars, you get the point. Also, they'll be using their aliases from here on out (with a few exceptions). Just remember that Rue Ryuzaki = Beyond, Ryuzaki Kyona = Autumn, and Amaye Ishi = KC.  
><em>

_Thank you, **DiamondRainbows**, for reviewing my last chapter!_

_Disclaimer: insert something cool-sounding here that vaguely related to me saying that I don't own DN or anything related to the subject other than my OCs._

* * *

><p><strong>Preparations<strong>

"Killings range between 4 pm to 2 am on weekdays... and 68% of them between 8 pm and 12 am... variations on weekends and holidays," I murmured as I stared down at the graphire. Numbers and letters flashed across the screen as Trey and I worked. I took a few gulps of Mountain Dew before resuming research. It had been almost an entire month since we'd first had our unspoken agreement to work together. I'd almost gotten used to Kyona's hyper-ness and Rue's inability to act remotely human.

Almost, but not quite.

The duo were still strangerous to me, and I, them. _And yeah, I made up a word that actually made since for once! Hah! Take that, Trey!_ Oh, right. Back to the story...

I was standing near the window of our newest hotel room, one foot propped up on the wall behind me. Kyona was down on the first floor, sneaking food back up to our room; Rue was in the shower.

"Kira..." I murmured again as my fingers flashed over the keyboard. "You kill criminals, and only criminals. A childish sense of justice, but I can see where you're coming from. If you kill off every criminal, it leaves a clean world for the good people. But... it leaves one criminal left: you. But you must know this- you wouldn't be killing otherwise. Or maybe you're too childish to know. Could Kira be a kid?"

_Kira is most likely a student, based on the times of death, but it's highly unlikely that he's one so young as to not know the true meaning of what he's doing. He wouldn't kill at all if he were in grade school,_ Trey pointed out.

_But still... I don't like it. Something about it is off. There's something wrong about the way he kills- and I would know. Kira can kill without being present, and that's what worries me._

_ Scared you're next?_ he teased.

_Not really. Just worried. Kira couldn't kill L, but according to sources, everyone that he killed had his or her crimes broadcasted. Is it possible that Kira can kill with just a name and face?_

_ This is coming from the woman who's working alongside a six-year-old and a serial killer with shinigami eyes?_

Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot to mention that little detail. Rue was born with eyes that allowed him to see a person's name and time of death. Creepy, right? Then again, it would make an excellent prank for April Fools' Day...

The bathroom door creaked open and Rue slipped out silently, rubbing his hair dry with a towel. Catching my eye, he raised an eyebrow.

I sighed. "Nothing new, but we're beginning to suspect that a young kid could be Kira; a student at least. Then again, one so young probably wouldn't have the brains, nor the guts, to kill someone, supernaturally _or_ normally. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that Kira could be able to kill with just a name and face."

Rue blinked slowly. "If I were Kira, I wouldn't even need a name, just a face."

I shot him a glance. "But you're not Kira."

He shrugged, smirking. "And how would you know that? I could be killing on the off days."

"I have nine millions tons of evidence of how you couldn't possibly be Kira," I rolled my eyes, biting back a sharper retort. We'd been through this a hundred times already, if not more. The guy just didn't know how to drop a subject.

"You don't want me to be Kira."

I resisted the urge to grind my teeth together. "That would suck, now wouldn't it?"

Before Rue could say anything else, the door exploded inwards and a blur of darkness shot across the room and slammed into me. Too surprised to do anything, I hit the wall, bounced off and crumpled to the floor.

"Hey kiddo," I wheezed, cringing at the girl's bone-crushing hug. Smirking widely, Rue closed the door firmly behind her.

"_Ishi-chan! You'll never guess what happened!_" the six-year-old shrieked and thrust a huge stack of papers into my hands. She carried on before I could even try to look at what they said. "_I hacked the police's files and found out that they've been keeping secrets! Kira's killing pattern changed almost a week ago and they never breathed a word about it!_"

"_What?_" I gaped at her.

She nodded vigorously. "He's now killing every hour, on the hour!"

I lunged for the graphire, snatched it up- then hesitated.

"Did you just say that you hacked police files?" I asked slowly, turning to face her.

She nodded, staring up at me with wide brown eyes.

"Did it say anything else in the files?"

"Yeah! They suspect that Kira might be a student, that he can choose the time of death and they know for a fact that he doesn't have to be present to kill! Also, he's challenged L again by contradicting the first killing pattern! Somehow Kira is able to obtain police information. Kira's more than likely a hacker, just like me!"

The world spun around me. This wasn't right... This just wasn't right. Kira... L... How does it all fit in? I shook my head sharply, then looked down at the eager face of my apprentice.

"Good work, kiddo," I patted her head, shot to my feet, then helped her to hers. I looked across the room to Rue. The schizophrenic was stared back at me, his gaze almost challenging.

"Rue, what would L do in this sort of situation?" I asked strongly.

"He won't sweat. He knows as much as we do now, and more. He'll have already guessed the Kira has been keeping an eye on the Japanese Task Force, and he'll more than likely investigate the source of the leak. In the meantime, Kira has set up this situation quite nicely. In fact, I'd say he's doing what we are right now," Rue replied without hesitation.

He never fails to surprise. "What makes you say that?"

"Kira is extremely intelligent, more so than the average Japanese citizen. He knows that we're only human, and he preys upon the police's weakness. The Task Force have never seen L in person, yet this mysterious detective is ordering them around, like they're chess pieces. The Task Force will begin to get annoyed with L. While L is investigating the leak, the Task Force will be investigating L. At least, that's what Kira's hoping for. In the meantime, he'll continued to kill, but in wait. He won't try to find L himself; he's letting the police do it for him. In other words- exactly what we're doing."

Holy schist. I knew Rue was smart but... not like this. I whistled.

"How much time until you think one of them will turn up something?"

"Hmm... that's a bit harder to answer. I'd give them a few hours at least, a month at most. L might bring out the firepower."

"The 'firepower'?" I frowned.

"He'll call in a large organization to tail the police, preferably one that isn't located in Japan."

"Like the CIA, FBI or Italian mafia," I guessed.

"Correct," he inclined his head.

Suddenly, I felt my spirits rise considerably. I'm not sure why I felt so good all of a sudden. Maybe it was because we were finally getting somewhere.

Then I realized I was grinning like a raving lunatic.

"Whoops!" I laughed it off, ignoring Rue's look. "Now, who wants milkshakes?"

"Me!" Kyona's eyes lit up like fireworks. Then again, it's been a while since I'd been in a good mood.

"Hey, Rue?" I asked slyly, following an impulse. And a stupid impulse at that.

His eyebrows elevated even higher.

"Did _you_ want a milkshake?"

"I'll stick with my jam, thanks."

"Fine. Suit yourself," I stuck out my tongue, snatched up the can of Mountain Dew and chugged the last bit down. "Hey, kid. How about this? If you want a milkshake, you'll have to earn the money to buy it yourself."

Her eyes widened. "How? I can't get a job."

The corners of my mouth curled up into a mischievous grin. "I'm going to teach you how to pick pockets today."

* * *

><p>Kyona skipped merrily alongside Ishi, humming as she went. <em>This'll be great! Now I can show off my skills!<em> She shot the detective a sideways glance. The woman had become almost a mother figure of sorts in the past few months. Kyona wasn't ready for new parents, but she'd been trained to be versatile. Adaptability was one of her specialties. That was why she'd been able to slip into her new name with ease, and how she could swiftly recall 'Ishi' and 'Rue.'

"Now, remember what I told you, alright?" Ishi murmured. Kyona nodded eagerly.

"Yep!" she made a peace sign with her fingers.

"I've brought you to the main plaza where we watched the live broadcast of Kira vs L. You can surely find someone to pick here. Off you go. I'll be around if you need me." And then the raven haired woman was gone.

Kyona felt excitement bubble up inside of her. She knew what she had to do, now she just had to prove she could do it.

The six-year-old peered around at the crowd thoughtfully. _That man that just came out of the electronics store... he didn't buy anything, is wearing a suit and... he's alone! And now he's checking his back pocket and..._

_ Bingo! Showtime!_

Kyona ran over her mental notes one last time before tugging her hair out of its ponytail. The onyx waves fell around her like a waterfall. She smiled and charged straight for the man.

"_Mama! Mama!_" she shrieked in her best Japanese accent. At the last second, she "tried" to sidestep around the man, but ended up running headlong into him. The man staggered backwards from the force while Kyona bounced off of his long legs. While he was stunned, Kyona quickly slipped 500 yen from his wallet and into the sleeve of her jacket. _If he's the wealthy businessman I think he is, he won't notice roughly five dollars missing,_ she thought happily.

"_Ā! Hontōni gomen'nasai! Shitsurei!_" she squeaked in her best Japanese, then darted past him before he could get a good look at her. She continued at a run until she reached an alleyway on the far side of the plaza where she skidded to a halt behind a dumpster. The girl slipped the money into her boot and smiled.

_Ishi stared down at her as they rode the elevator to the bottom floor. "Remember, Kyona, if you punch someone in the face, they won't notice if you're poking their side. Humans can only concentrate on one thing at a time; use that and your small size to your advantage. That's the first rule of pickpocketing."_

_ First rule, check!_ she thought with a grin and as she peered around the dumpster for her next victim. _Strawberry milkshake, here I come!_

* * *

><p>My apprentice was most certainly not up to par. She had thrown par into a corner, beaten it down and showed it who was boss. I'd honestly expected the kid to turn up with 1000 yen, but then she flash me the big bucks. Not only had she chosen the correct people to pick, but the exact amount they wouldn't notice missing. On her first day, Kyona had rounded up roughly a hundred dollars from a little over fifty people in the plaza.<p>

Holy schist. Even I can't do that, and I've been doing this junk for years. (Okay, that _might_ be a bit of an exaggeration, but I didn't get nearly as much as her until a good year or two into my training.)

I guess it's time for phase two of her training.

When we entered the hotel room, Kyona's monotonous features exploded into a grin.

"_Rue!_" she squealed. I winced at the high pitch but the serial killer didn't seem to take any notice.

"What is it, Kyona-chan?" mumbled Rue around a mouthful of jam. The schizophrenic hadn't moved from his position in the office chair since we'd left.

"Guess," she smiled mischievously.

"You can pick pockets."

"You got it!" she giggled and skipped across the room.

Rue shot me a sidelong glance. "How much did you make?"

"Roughly, a hundred dollars, plus however much this would be. Hey, Ishi-chan? How much is this shimmery knife thing worth?"

Rue's head shot up, eyes wide, as he noticed that the girl was fingering _his_ diamond blade in her hands with practiced care.

I smirked. Surprise, Rue!

"She's freakishly good," he muttered as he stuffed another mouthful of jam into his mouth. The man seemed almost ashamed.

"No kidding. I don't think I've met anyone that picked up on it this fast," I walked across the room and ruffled her dark hair. Kyona grinned up at me. "No pun intended, of course. She's a natural with anything that involves delicacy of her hands."

"So what are you gonna teach me now?" the girl asked eagerly.

"Hmm... how about... _self defense..!_" I could have held back the purr in my voice, but what the hey. Why not?

"Really?" her amber eyes widened.

"It's better to start young," I winked. "Now, the first thing we need to do is work on your stance-..."

I took the rest of the day teaching Kyona the basics of fighting; the stance, keeping a firm center of balance- even when jumping- a few simple (but extremely powerful) punches and kicks, and three different ways to knock out someone while wearing handcuffs. Yeah, the last one is a little random, but hey, you never know when some psycho is going to slap a pair of cuffs on you and try to beat you up.

When ten o'clock rolled around, I was sore all over from the numerous kicks and punches that had connected firmly. I was more than a little stiff, but I've put up with worse. On the other hand, the kid was leaping around like a crazed monkey. I was about to have a sugar crash right then and there and the girl couldn't stay seated. How fair is that?

Once I got Kyona to lay down, she fell into a slumber so deep I don't think she'd have woken if I drop-kicked her from the balcony.

Exhausted and suffering from malnutrition, I wandered over to the fridge for a Mountain Dew but stopped short when Rue winced. I peeked over his shoulder at the laptop on the desk, but I couldn't make out the words. Concerned, I walked over to him, just as he turned.

His eyes were dark, but I could have sworn I saw a hint of malicious glee. "Ishi-san... Kyona made a mistake. The police have detected the hack. Kyona tapped into the chief of police's computer and now the entire Yagami family of the Kanto region is under the suspicion of being Kira, or Kira's accomplice."

* * *

><p><em>Dun dun DUNN! 8D Cliffy! I know; I'm evil. Sue me, just leave me my laptop. ;D<em>


	9. Code Blue

_My first update of Feburary! Yay! :D Okay, I had more free time to write, but this chapter was a little harder to come out with. It's not like I _do_ any of the things they do for a living! (Or do them period. XD)  
><em>

_Thank you to my three reviewers, **DiamondRainbows**, **Lady Luck 2.0**, and **AnimeVamp1997**! Reviews make my world spin 'round! :)  
><em>

_I still don't own DN, especially not at five in the morning.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Code Blue<strong>

I blinked. Did I hear him correctly..?

"Run that one by me one more time," I said slowly.

He shot me an irritated look. "This spacing out is going to get you killed."

"No, I mean, did I hear you right?" Please say no. Please say no...

"Kyona's hack job was found out; the Yagami family is under suspicion of being Kira or Kira's accomplice."

I swallowed an exasperated growl. _Trey, where would that land us?_

_ The doghouse..? But then again, this is _ you_. So... _The loctopus's plan washed into my brain, and a sly grin curled the corners of my mouth.

_Oh, heck yes..! Thanksies, Trey!_

_ It's what I do,_ he replied, almost warmly.

"Mind telling me what's on the brain?" Rue interrupted my mental celebration with an odd combination of slang and an American southwest accent.

I resisted the urge to stare at him weirdly, and said instead, "This is good news."

He smirked triumphantly. "The killer in you is finally showing its side."

"No, I mean that the family under suspicion is bad, _but_... Is it the entire household or the entire family?" I moved over to one side and peered around him. Instead of answering, the schizophrenic pushed the laptop closer to me.

I scanned it swiftly, Trey downloaded it, and I felt my smile widen.

"Just the household," I murmured to myself. "Yagami Soichiro, Yagami Sachiko, Yagami Sayu and Yagami Light. Father, mother, younger sister, older brother. Yes," I said, louder. "This'll work for what I have in mind."

Rue's eyes focused his laser-like gaze on my face as I continued.

"You said that L would most likely bring in a large organization, right? So he brings them in to investigate the police, and now the chief of police's computer has evidence of being hacked. He'll probably send a man each to tail them all day, then put cameras and wire taps in the house so he can watch them easily from afar."

"Sounds about right," Rue licked a jam-coated digit.

"It's hard to tail someone without them noticing you're doing it, but it's even harder to keep the rest of the world from knowing. If the organization has a bunch of men, but they can just barely get their acts up to par, it won't take a professional long to spot them," I could feel myself beginning to ramble, but I kept talking anyways. "We could move to a hotel in the Kanto region where I could tail the man or woman who's tailing one of the family members. Actually, it would need to be the one who's watching Sayu. Since she's the youngest, she won't know a whole lot about such things and the agent tailing her will be willing to act more flexible. I'll be able to pick up on her tail fastest. This could also mean that the men tailing her are less experienced and will easily break under pressure.

"Rue? I think you might get to have some illegal fun in the near future."

It was hard to miss the way his eyes light up and a twisted smile curl the corners of his lips. And the way the jam looked like blood in the faint light of the computer.

* * *

><p>It was insane. It was stupid. It was risky. It was illegal. It went against all of my moral codes. It grossed out Kyona, slightly. It wasn't me, but it was my fault.<p>

But we were going to do it anyways.

After almost two weeks of planning, we had it; the "perfect plan." It would have been flawless, had you taken out the torture we would have to put an unlikely victim through. But we could do it; and we would.

And I haven't been this worried since my first assignment in the mafia. Then again, the good canceled out the bad. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, Trey in his familiar spot. My dagger was in its sheath, a stolen pistol (with silencer on) hidden in my belt, pills in the sole of my shoe, bubble gum in my jacket pocket next to the glow-sticks, the collar readjusted. I'd even found a hologram projector hidden in my other shoe, but I decided to leave it there.

Across the room, Kyona finished polishing the jackal. The kid was dressed in a faded gray- the same color as most of the buildings- her hair hidden under a ski mask. The girl ran her hands over the length of the sniper rifle, checking for flaws. If all else failed, Kyona would be the back up plan. Better to shoot the agent in the leg and keep him from running than being unable to catch up to him and blowing our cover. There was nothing quite like having the first impression of being the person who broke a serial killer from an asylum, y'know? It wasn't exactly how I wanted L to see me.

Rue stepped out of the backroom, frowning. I did a double take, just to make sure I was seeing properly. Nope. He was frowning.

"S'up?" I questioned, shooting him a sidelong glance.

"Static over the com unit..." he growled and adjusted his outfit. The serial killer was dressed in a black bulletproof vest with a pistol hidden in the inside pocket. The vest itself was disguised as a simple coat, and I honestly think the gun could have passed as a Nerf. (Okay, okay, you got me. It's not a pistol, it's a tranquilizer.)

I was wearing a black, sleeveless turtleneck with hidden pockets, a tight black skort, colored contacts, my steel-toed boots and a diamond bracelet I lifted from a jewelry stone a week before. I needed to blend in with the crowd, so I couldn't wear anything too Mission: Impossible.

"Everyone knows the drill, right?" I asked, looking between the two.

"Sayu's going to walk to a friend's house today for a sleepover. I watch her from the rooftops and report how many people in the area are following her," Kyona replied, her voice slightly shaky.

"I watch from across the street and make sure everything goes as planned," added Rue in a bored tone. "If all else fails, I knock the agent out with the trank."

"And if both of you fail, I shoot him or her in the leg," Kyona finished.

I eyed the girl with concern. "You okay? Nervous hands can't aim a gun, kid. I know it's a lot of pressure, but we need you for this op. If you can't do it, just say the word before we leave and you can drop."

_I hate putting this much pressure on her... She's only six..._

_ She's learned more from you in the little time you've been together than she's learned in her entire life,_ Trey pointed out. _I think she'll do fine._

_ I just hope we're not wrong,_ I resisted the familiar urge to gnaw my fingernail.

Kyona shook her head. "No. I'm fine. Just my first time, y'know?" When she looked up, a cold determination had washed away the previous uncertainty in her amber gaze.

"Alrightly then; let's move out."

* * *

><p>The suburbs of the Kanto region are quite nice, to say the least. The houses are simple, yet sturdy, with just enough paint to appeal to the eye, but not enough to blind you. And their colorful roofs were just that- colorful, not some bland shade of gray or a dirty white. If you turned off the humidity and cranked up the heat, I could almost pass as my favorite town in Arizona.<p>

Almost, but you'd have to move the houses farther apart.

I ambled the sidewalks near 21st Street, a small smile on my face as I sipped at the Japanese soda in my hand. It wasn't a Mountain Dew, but boy did it have a kick!

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rue slipped unnoticed into an abandoned house across the street from Sayu's friend's house, whose name was Aichi Midori. I didn't have to scan the rooftops to know that the kid was ready. She had set up half an hour ahead of time. Plus, I would have heard about any difficulties over the coms.

Good. We were all in place. Now all we had to do was wait.

…

I hate stakeouts. Too much waiting drives one crazy. Yes, waiting is healthy, but that doesn't mean it's enjoyable.

When the com unit in my ear crackled to life, I wanted to jump for joy.

"Target is approaching the street," murmured Kyona into the com. "I see two females following her. They're eating ice cream and walking behind a large group. One's blonde, the other wears a hat. Flavors are chocolate and... rocky road."

I didn't have to ask how Kyona knew those were her tails. She'd probably been watching them come for at least a mile, but like a good sniper, she hadn't distracted me until they were a few blocks away.

"They're coming up from the south side. Good luck Basket, Party."

Okay, I'll admit our code names were a little spunky, but what the hey? I was a nut case. Nut case- basket case. It was the same thing to Kyona. 'Party' was a pun off of 'Beyond Birthday,' like a birthday party. Kyona's own name was Sparkle. Go figure.

I slowly made my way over to the south street and sat down on a bench, looking around, as though waiting for someone. Yes, sitting down was stupid, but how was I suppose to see a girl over the heads of many in a crowd? I was more or less looking for the two women, so I had to stay in character for the rest of the world.

Then again, I was never one to jump on the 'sitting' bandwagon, and it was hard enough to control the butterflies in my stomach. I hated sitting. No- I _loathed_ it. It was the easiest position for someone to take advantage of you- and I don't mean it that way. You can't get your feet under you in enough time to dive to safety, jumping to your feet takes too long, and it's easy to pin a sitting figure. At least when you're laying down, you can roll to one side and use your momentum to pop right up into a crouch. Long story short, if there's one thing that scares the daylights out of me, it's sitting.

And here I was, on a bench, in a foreign country, sitting on a bench waiting to ambush someone. Some days I really do hate what one has to do for an operation...

"They should be visible to you, Basket, in three... two..."

I stood up the moment she said 'one' with an aggravated sigh. "Twenty minutes late..! When I get my hands on that boy..." I checked the nonexistent watch on my arm, which was really the diamond bracelet. In truth, I wasn't checking my "watch," but the reflection in the largest diamond. Sayu and her tails were making good progress to the corner of the street.

"Just picked up another tail heading straight for you, Basket!" warned Kyona sharply. "Male, dirty blonde, blue eyes, looks to be in his twenties, but I can't tell his exact age. Wearing all black, minus the white streak on the sides of his shoes. There's a pistol in his pocket; I can see the hint of its outline if I zoom close enough. Pfft, and the way he acts, it's like he's not even _trying_ to hide that he's following them!"

I flicked the bracelet around delicately on the back of my wrist. I could faintly see the man walking towards me.

He was alone. Perfect.

"Ugh, so two women get by just fine on a date, but not me? That man's in for it big time..." I grumbled in spy slang. Rue grunted in acknowledgment: we were going after the man.

I began to pace the corner of 20th and 21st Street, muttered random crap under my breath. Sayu passed with a cheerful wave, which I returned with a suppressed smile, then dropped back into my cloudy charade. The two ice cream-eating women passed me without a second glance.

The man, on the other hand, was obviously an amateur, just as I'd hoped. He kept looking over his shoulder with shifty eyes and changed his pace. Yet what was at the top of the list (I could have gone on all day, trust me), what made me want to bang my head against the light pole to my left, was when his hand reached up and touched his left ear. Pfft! Amateur! At least I knew where his earwig was hidden.

Now, all I had to do was draw his attention.

I stared at the womens' back pointedly, then pretended to write something down on a notepad hidden just under my turtleneck. Then, I mouthed- and making sure the accentuate every salable- 'targets are in range; shoot now?'

I heard Rue fidget on his end of the line, but ignored it.

"Basket, code blue."

My heart skipped a beat and it was all I could do to keep the mad grin from my face. Oh, what the hell!

'On it right away,' I mouthed, allowing the sickly sweet grin to curl the corners of my mouth. 'Those women will never seen the light of day..!'

"I always knew you were evil..!" I could hear the longing in Rue's voice, as though he really, _really_ wanted to take the job off of my hands. Then again, what's a code blue without a few dead bodies laying around in the end?

_He hasn't seen me when I'm vicious,_ I gave Trey a mental high five and reached for the pistol in my pocket.

"Basket, the target is approaching, fast. Crack your neck if you want me to hold fire," muttered Kyona. I did just that and pulled the pistol out just enough so that the tip of the metal was visible.

Okay, Rue... Wait for it... I stepped out into the street, pulled the pistol out completely, and crossed swiftly, making sure to keep my eyes on the women the entire time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man touch his ear again and speak rapidly into whatever crappy system the organizations used to use back in the day.

I picked up the pace, then halted directly in front of a broken window. In fact, it was the same broken window behind which Rue crouched, tranquilizer in hand.

"Shoot when I snap," I murmured without moving my lips. Swiftly, I ducked down behind a bush, in plain sight of the man but out of sight to the other tails, and cocked the gun. With delicate precision, I pointed the gun and began to slowly count down from ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

I got to three before a flashed of silver caught my eye. I snapped swiftly and dove headfirst into the bush, for all it was worth. I felt a flash of pain as the bullet caught my right shoulder, and multiple burns where the rose bush's thorns and raked me, but I was alive. I heard a dull thud to my right, then a muffled crack over the coms.

"Target nullified..!" purred Rue.

"Basket, are you okay?" demanded Kyona. "I saw him shoot!"

"I'm fine," I muttered, scrambling backwards out of the bush. "It just barely nicked me. Did the others see or hear anything?"

Pause. "No; his silencer was on."

"Good." In truth, my shoulder was killing me. The bullet tore right through the muscles, maybe even clipping the bone. I guess it's kind of a good thing I've been shot before, because I might have cried out when it ripped through my shoulder.

_KC, this is no minor wound. I'm checking out your shoulder, and you're pouring blood, _Trey warned. _We need to stop the bleeding ASAP._

_ On it; just let me get this guy out of sight._

Rue slipped out of the house, and together, we drug the man into the living room of the abandoned home. The room itself was nice, but I had other things to worry about.

"Okay, Sparkle. We're done," I whispered. Rue shot me a look as I frowned. Huh. My voice was giving out.

_Hospital,_ reminded Trey.

I winced. _That didn't go over so well last time._

Kyona exploded in through the back door, ripped off her ski mask, and tossed it and the jackal onto the sofa. "We got him, right? How long do we have until the drugs wear off?"

"Just long enough to move him to a warehouse I picked out. It's on the other side of town but we're going to have to sneak him there anyways. The warehouse is unused, and off to one side so people aren't likely to walk in on us," I answered, forcing my voice to cooperate and wincing when it shook.

"That's not a nick."

I looked up at Rue, who was eying me. "Huh?"

He pointed at me; or more precisely, my shoulder. "You're bleeding."

"Yeah, I said it nicked me," I retorted, not really in the mood. "It's going to bleed. Now, we need to get this guy out of here before someone looks through the windows and-"

"Ishi-chan! You're covered in blood!" Kyona squealed, having had a good look at me for the first time. I winced and tugged the com unit from my ear.

"I told you, I'm fine," I said exasperatedly. "Let's just get moving!"

"Kyona, do you know how to bandage a wound?" asked Rue in a growl as the six-year-old picked up the man with hardly any effort at all and tossed him over her shoulder.

The girl shook her head.

"Do you know how to drive?"

Her eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously.

"Congratulations. You get to help us high-tail it out of here."

I stared at him. _Trey, is that a doppelganger, or am I seeing things?_

_ You and me, both, sister._

Ignoring my suspicious look, he raked me over with his dark gaze and said, "In the meantime, I get to play nurse."

What. The. Fuck..? Now I _know_ I'm missed something.

I shook my head, more from the insanity of it all than a response. "Since when do you-"

"I set myself on fire," he reminded, eyes flashing.

"Uh huh. Same here," I shot back. "I've also shot myself in the foot with a paintball gun, bungee jumped from a hotel roof in LA, chased a man from Utah to the American-Mexican border in a helicopter, got hit by an SUV and ended up falling from a cliff immediately afterwords, picked a fight with a knife-bearing drug dealer, and accidentally ran the backside of my right calf in a turbine. And that's just the beginning. I know a thing or two about injuries, and I know for a fact that I can hold out long enough to run to the other side of town and tie up this heathen."

He smirked. "You don't trust me."

"Hell no! I was the one who did _surgery_ on herself when she was_ bleeding to death_ in Hoover Dam!" I spat back. "Are you saying I'm out of my league?"

Okay, yeah, I was a _little_ scared, but there was no way in hell this schizophrenic serial killer was getting anywhere _near_ any wound of mine, creepy blood/jam obsession or not.

"You need medical attention-"

"And I can get it _after_ we quit wasting time bickering like a group of useless children!" I hissed, following Kyona out the back door. "Besides, what's it to you if I die?"

Kyona stumbled to a halt, whirling around to face me with large, amber eyes.

I chocked on my own words. "Ah, c'mon kiddo. Let's get this guy to the car." (Yes, we stole another car.)

I hoisted up the guy's legs onto my shoulders and smiled down comfortingly as best I could, but Kyona wasn't buying it. Her eyes were clouded with thoughts as we lugged the man's limp form around the back of the garage and tossed him in the blue Nissan. (Random tidbit of the day: the word is actually spelled 'nii-san' in Japanese, but the authorities changed the spelling when they brought the cars to America. The funny thing is that 'nii-san' means 'older brother,' so we're buying older brothers and driving them around? Does anyone else see a problem with this?)

I made to climb in the front, but a freezing cold hand on my left shoulder stopped me.

I could have kicked him in the shin. What part about _no_ didn't the guy understand? "Rue," I growled through gritted teeth, turning slowly. "For the love of God, why won't you just-"

The moment our gazes locked, something connected sharply with the side of my skull. I staggered backwards and slammed into the side of the car as my vision swum before me. I could make out... a man dressed in black, holding a gun that was pointed straight at my heart.

The last thing I remember doing before I slumped to the ground was lashing out with a kick, but I couldn't have told you if it connected.

* * *

><p><em>I finished this around five a.m. this morning, so... yeah. XD<em>

_And L and the Task Force _will_ be in this story, they just appear in a few more chapters. I promise I won't make you wait that long! ;)  
><em>


	10. Hot 'N' Cold

_Well, I tried to update quickly, but... XD Sorry for the wait, again. Between homework and the high-strung emotions in this chapter, it took a while, but not as long as before._

_Lots of thanks of all of my reviewers! This story runs of reviews for both encouragement and improvement!  
><em>

_me = Chasing Yesterday, yes; me =__ Death Note, no_

* * *

><p><strong>Hot 'N' Cold<strong>

The first thing that registered in my scrambled mind was that I was laying down on my stomach. The second thing was the excruciating pain in my right shoulder. The third was the labored breathing coming form directly behind me. The fourth was that it was extremely dark wherever I was, except for a faint light coming from behind me. The fifth were my memories.

I bolted to my feet and whirled around- well. I _tried_ to, but it didn't _exactly_ turn out the way I had anticipated. Something caught the middle of my back and I slammed back down. I hissed in pain, then realized that the cold metal against my bare stomach wasn't helping the situation.

Wait.

I was shirtless..?

"What the-!" I twisted myself around, but winced as a wave of pain washed over my shoulder. But I managed to catch sight of the person.

"..._RUE?_" I froze, mouth agape. It wasn't so much as him in general that made my thoughts slam to a halt, but the bloody tools he held in his hands.

You know, just a pair of tweezers, a scalpel, a clamp and the diamond dagger.

I could have fainted right then and there.

"What the..." My recently-slugged brain didn't seem to be processing things at its normal speed, and Trey's voice and subconscious actions weren't clouding the back of my mind. Or were they? I honestly couldn't tell.

"Rue..." I said slowly. "What... happened..?"

He held up his left hand and pinched between his forefinger and thumb- I squinted- was... a bullet..?

Say wha..?

"Yeah, I got shot-" I broke off as realization flooded over me. "_Shit!_ Where are we?" I tried to shove myself to my feet, but the same thing tugged me back down. Laying on my stomach, I felt my back gingerly and the Velcro strap that held me to the metal table. I groaned and let my head drop to the table, wincing as I remember that it wasn't the first time I'd been hit that day, if it was still the same day.

"Well... someone was being a pain in the ass so I hit her over the head and knocked her out with a tranquilizer dart and in return received a nasty bruise on the shin. From there, I stopped the bleeding while Kyona tried to get us all killed. It's a good thing this is Japan. In American, she would have gotten a speeding ticket with 'intention to kill' as its subtitle.**(1)** From there, we bolted the man to a chair in the main room in the warehouse, then I tied you to a table and proceeded to rip the bullet from your shoulder. 'Just a nick' my ass."

I must have looked horrified, because the familiar smirk adorned his face. "Fear of surgery?"

"Fear of getting a C average as my surgeon..." I muttered, resting my head lightly on the cold surface. Rue snorted.

"I'm from Wammy's House, thanks. I may not be an expert but-"

"Whatever. Can I get up?" The Velcro was making me itch, the metal was cold against my stomach, my skull was now pounding from Rue's slug and my senselessness _and_ my shoulder stung like the dickens. And I wasn't too thrilled about being stuck in one place, either. Did I mention my fear of sitting? Well, being stuck in a single place against my will kinda goes along those lines.

"Impatient?"

"Fear of getting screwed up by amateurs isn't my main fear..." I muttered. "Can I get up _soon?_ As in, _now_, soon."

"Ah. So _that's_ why you never sit."

I mentally groaned. Jeez, I was _way_ off of my game... Then again, I've been through a lot. Gimmie a break. "If I say yes will you let me up?"

The strap slid from my back. Using my left arm, I shoved myself into a swift crouch, biting back a hiss when another wave of pain washed over me. What did Rue do, exactly? Rip through every tendon and ligament to get the bullet out? I flexed the shoulder warily, gritting my teeth. It still worked, but it hurt like hell.

Then I realized just how cold it was in... wherever we were. At least I was still wearing a bra.

"Where did you say we were, again?" I glanced around, though the room was so dark I could barely make out anything. Other than the table I was crouching on and a few boxes in one corner, the room was bare.

"Side room of the warehouse. Daniel Hus is in the other room, and he's not too thrilled."

I snuck a glance at Rue out of the corner of my eye. The man had the bullet lodged firmly between his pinkie and ring finger and was slipping the tools from one hand to the other. There was blood splattered on both the tools and himself, mostly on his arms.

Impulsively, I reached up and touched my shoulder, only to for my fingers to meet a bandage, and a tight one at that. I smiled to myself.

"Has our guest spilled his guts?" I asked in an sleuth-like accent.

"Oh, his guts will spill, one way, or another," a twisted grin curled Rue's mouth. I chocked back laughter, but he quickly caught on. "What?"

I pushed my bangs out of my face (when had they gotten so long?) and smirked up at him. "Congratulations on quoting a child's movie. I never knew you had it in you."

He blinked slowly. I was two seconds away from cracking up at his blank expression when the wall exploded inwards. I'm going to take a guess and say that it's a _door_. (Note the sarcasm.)

"He's clean of bugs. I flushed the GPS tracking device down a toilet, then left the earwig in the car and locked the gas pedal and watched the car drive itself into the Pacific Ocean. Oh, and I brought the fire-poker-stick-thingie!" said Kyona brightly, then caught sight of me and her entire face lit up. "_You're alive!_"

I shot her a smile. "What? You thought a little old shot to the shoulder would put me down? You shouldn't underestimate your mentor."

"Can I hug you or are you gonna pass out, or something?"

I gave her a single-shouldered shrug. "Ask Dr. Phil here."

Rue snorted; Kyona blinked and glanced back and forth between me and Rue.

"Ah, nevermind. Long before your time, kiddo."

"Okey dokey!" she winked and tossed the fire poker to the schizophrenic. "Is this it?"

He nodded, running his hands along the smooth metal surface. "It's... _perfect_..." he purred.

"Uh... I was just clocked upside the head, so I'm a little out of it, but... _what the heck is going on?_" I asked.

"I'm going to make Mr. Hus talk, whether he wants to or not," said Rue softly, eyes glinting in the soft light.

"Torture?" My stomach twisted a little.

Rue licked his lips, smirking.

Oh. Right. The plan. Now I feel _really_ stupid.

"Ah... good! Now, where's my shirt..?" Feeling a little embarrassed, I glanced around the room one more time, just to be sure I didn't overlook it. Then I noticed how quiet it was. "Wait. Here's a better question: where's Trey?"

"He wouldn't let me anywhere near you so I trapped him under a Solo cup and left him in the other room."

My attempts to choke back my laughter failed on so many levels. "A... _Solo cup?_" I said in between gasps for breath.

He nodded, the familiar smirk returning, the demonic look slowly fading from his eyes.

"I bet he'll enjoy the unexpected turn of events. Thanks for the blackmail," I smirked.

"So... um..."

I glanced at Kyona, but for my eyes to meet the uneasy face of a young girl.

"What's up?" I asked warmly.

"Uh... do I have to stay for the... you know..." she motioned to the door from whence she came. Then I noticed that her face was a little green.

Oops. I forgot some people (especially children) are a little squeamish around blood. Then again, I know where she was coming from. I myself didn't exactly want to be around when the blood started flowing.

I sent her a soft smile. "How about I take you to the hotel for the night?"

She nodded; I noted just how tired she looked.

_Am I pushing her too hard?_ Then I remembered Trey was...

_Trey? Trey, can you hear me?_

I listened intently, but received no reply. I sighed. Guess that tranquilizer took more than my current energy.

A sharp coldness near my injured shoulder jerked me back into reality. Caught off guard, I launched myself into a back flip, lashing out with a swift kick and hearing a satisfying grunt of pain as I landed on three limbs on the other side of the metal table.

Rue has clutching his gut, eyes narrowed as he stared down at me.

Schist.

"You caught me off guard..." I muttered and got to my feet, feeling more and more like an amateur. Seriously, what was wrong with me?

"You must have been a soccer player in a past life..." he growled. "First my leg, now my pancreas."

I raised an eyebrow. "Where's my shirt?"

"It was bloody."

I blinked slowly. "You... threw it away."

His eyebrows slid up his forehead.

I shook my head with an internal groan. So you ripped a bullet from my shoulder, and then you threw my shirt away... Great. Just great.

"I'm going to take Kyona to the hotel," I said- then realized that the kid was no where to be seen. "Speaking of, where art thou?"

"She went out to the car after giving up trying to ask you if you could teach her to drive properly."

"Okay then." I glanced around one last time. "So... you know what you need to do."

"Correct," the twisted smile returned.

"Don't kill the guy," I said firmly. "I need him alive and talking."

"By the time you return, he'll be ready to spill every last bit of his guts," the schizophrenic promised as he drew the dagger from his belt and began to twirl it.

* * *

><p>Two hours in a car with an insane driver. An hour and a half of Trey swearing fluently in the back of my mind. An hour and three quarters of me inhaling Mountain Dew after Mountain Dew and every chocolate bar in the Kanto region. A half hour of us trying to find our way back to the hotel after Kyona had gotten us lost. Another half hour or so trying to climb the balconies to get to our floor, since we obviously wouldn't be allowed to calmly walk through the main lobby. Another half hour to get Kyona ready for bed and find me a shirt I could afford to get bloody. (Are we sensing a pattern here?)<p>

I finished tucking in the girl and turned to leave when her usually cheerful voice whispered, "Ishi-chan... Why?"

My heart skipped a beat at her hurt tone. I turned to look at the kid, tucked neatly into the covers that were pulled up to her chin. Her wide amber eyes were watery and staring straight into my soul.

When I gotten so attached to her? Who knows.

"What do you mean?" I asked kindly.

"This," she whispered, taking a hand out of the covers long enough to motion around the room.

"You know why," I sighed and scratched the back of my neck. "It's so no one-"

"Not that."

I looked up at her, the six-year-old girl who stared up at me with eyes that once held so much light, now diminished. Something was severely troubling her.

Confused, and a little bewildered, I asked softly, "What do you mean, then?"

"Him."

I froze. We both knew without a shadow of a doubt that we were both on the same page now. I could see my shock reflected amidst the pain and fear in her eyes.

"Rue..." I slowly walked to the bedside and crouched down, looking into the darkened eyes. "Why did he have to come with us?"

She nodded.

I sighed. _Trey, help me, please. I'm not much of a mother, and I need to put this as gently as I can._

But even Trey seemed a little wounded. _I'll do what I can..._

"I was in the asylum, and we ran out of time, kiddo. I needed information about L, and if I'd left him, that chance would have been gone forever. Plus, he knew my name and that something was wrong about my birth."

"Why are we trying to show up L?" the tears were becoming more prominent by the minute. "Why, Ishi-san?"

I winced a little at the change in honorific, combined with the doubt. "I need to impress him, Kyona-chan."

"Why?"

"We need him to get home. L is the World's Greatest Detective, we need his intelligence, Kyona-chan. We... we don't belong here, and I don't want to hurt you any more. I can tell it's bothering you, working with a killer," I reached over and brushed a strand of hair out of her face, "but I'm not sure where to turn anymore."

Whoa. I think... I might have actually meant that... All along, is that why I really wanted to find him..? Because we needed his help?

"Then why turn to Rue-san?" she asked in a murmur so low I almost missed it.

There was a tugging sensation in my chest, and I found myself sliding onto the bed, crouched, and hugging her gently. "Because I'm scared, too."

Trey's train of thought ground to a halt in the back of my mind.

She lay there as I crouched beside of her. We stayed silent. I left my left arm draped around her shoulders, but only to pick up a small shiver run through her. I glanced over to see streams of tears running down her face. Torn, I pulled her closer.

"Hey," I whispered. "I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that it's all going to be okay. You're not like normal girls; you can handle the truth. I don't know what's going to happen next, or how we're going to overcome our obstacles, but I'll promise you this: you are my apprentice, and I'll be damned if I let anything hurt you. This may not be our true home, but we'll make it our home because that's who we are: agents. And no matter what, I will _never_ let you go, Autumn. Never."

The girl looked up, shock spreading across her face at the use of her old name.

And then burst into tears. I sat there, crouched, as the six-year-old began to sob into my shirt. "KC, Ishi..." The girl looked up, and even though her eyes were filled with tears, I could see the shining determination; the same determination that got her through the kidnapping.

At that moment, I knew. We both did.

We were a mentor and apprentice, mother and daughter, friend and friend, and there was nothing in the world that could tear us apart. Once a team, always a team.

* * *

><p>Okay, sob story aside, I still had a job to do. Did I mention that emotions were overrated? Well, I can't seem to conjure up much about the past scene other than emotions.<p>

_I feel- you what what? I don't know _how_ I feel!_ I thought exasperatedly.

_You and me both,_ said Trey quietly. I knew that the loctopus was a little shocked by my sudden explosion of mentality.

I hopped out of the car, slammed the door, and ambled to the door of the warehouse. A swift look around, then I was in, closing the door firmly behind me. I turned to see two figures in the center of the room, one familiar, one strange.

"Sorry to crash the party," I growled and stalked over to the duo. Rue turned to look at me, and I slammed to a halt. Rue Ryuzaki was not who stood in front of me; this creature was a monster.

The schizophrenic was covered in blood from head to toe, the dagger in his hand drenched with it. Various tools lay about the floor, in pretty much the same state. But it was his eyes that made my breath catch.

The onyx pupils were lit with numerous emotions; rage, lust, horror, fascination, greed, and something I knew only too well.

"Rue..?" I asked cautiously, my hand twitching towards my own dagger.

"You're just in time..!" he whispered. His demonic eyes temporarily flashed red- or maybe it was just a trick of the light. The serial killer motioned towards the man tied to the chair, or rather, what was left of a man. (And no, I'm not even going to try to describe it.) "He's ready to talk, aren't you?"

The dagger seemed to disappear from Rue's hand and reappear right next to the man neck, stuck fast in the wood, only a mere millimeter away.

"Yes, please! I'll tell you everything!" the man cried in a strangled tone. I flinched as blood bubbled from his mouth and- I closed my eyes tight.

_C'mon, KC. You can bare it,_ Trey urged.

I bit my lip and opened my eyes. Rue was staring at me expectantly. I couldn't die now, not after the promise I just made to Kyona.

"Who are you?" I growled, swallowing back the bile that rose in my throat.

"Daniel Hus!" he whimpered as I began to circle him. Rue had really done a number on this guy.

Don't think about it. Don't think about it. Just do your job, and you can leave.

"What agency do you work for?"

"FBI."

The FBI is in Japan...

"Does the American government know you're here?"

"Yes."

I halted in front of him, turning to face him. "Who are you taking orders from? Who has the highest authority?"

"...L."

"Are you lying?" I inquired.

"No!" he seemed to shrink. "Please, no more. I'm not lying! I swear!"

I know. I know... My thumbnail found my teeth.

"What is L doing? Do you know?"

"I-" Suddenly the man jerked violently with a loud screech. I leaped backwards, startled, eyes wide. The man convulsed, twisting and writhing furiously in the chair, all the while making gagging sounds. I watched, horrified, as he twitched one last time, then fell still.

I stared, unable to turn and vomit as I would have much liked to do.

It was too early for L to have known we had captured one of his men, right? And how would he have killed him without being present? Did Daniel Hus die of his wounds? Or was it Kira?

Rue waved a hand in front of my face, and I snapped back.

"It wasn't me," he growled, slipping the dagger into his belt. "There wasn't enough blood for him to bleed to death, I didn't cut a main artery and there was nothing that would have killed him."

"Kira..." I whispered. "It's too soon for L, and he doesn't have this... ability. Kira... he killed this man. Kira knows we're here. _Kira knows!_"

* * *

><p><em><strong>(1) Yeah, long story but I have a friend who was doing over a hundred miles an hour in a thirty-five zone and got a "speeding" ticket. It turns out that there are three levels of severity in America for speeding: speeding, reckless drive, and intention to kill. XD<strong>_

_Yes, KC does seem overly emotional for herself in this chapter, but the circumstances are the only exception. I think the chapter name is pretty fitting, though. Back and forth, back and forth; should I go all out to find L or should I go about it more carefully? (You can also guess which song I was listening to at the time I was writing this... XD)  
><em>


	11. Picking Up the Pace

_Woohoo! Two updates only three days apart! I'm on a roll! XD_

_*insert cool-sounded sentence here saying something that vaguely relates to me not owning Death Note*  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Picking Up the Pace<strong>

_Shit! Trey, I need to you tap into every security camera in the area! Sweep the place, look everywhere, leave nothing untouched!_

A sharp burst of pain drew me out of my frantic thoughts. I looked down in surprise at my thumb, which I'd bitten and was now bleeding. But that was the least of my worries.

"Rue, we need to leave; _now_," I said, my voice coming out much stronger than I was feeling. "Kira's on his way."

I whirled around, then froze.

Kyona was alone in the hotel, and if Kira knew we were... investigating the FBI agent...

"Kyona..!" I whispered under my breath. "We left her! She won't know..!"

I was ready to tear the door down, but a light touch on my wrist stopped me. I glanced over my shoulder. "What?"

The murderous look had left Rue's eyes, and the red hue was gone. "Kira. Is. Not. Coming," he said slowly, as though I wouldn't be able to understand him.

"Of course he is!" I insisted sharply.

"No, he isn't."

_KC..._

_ What?_

_ He's right._

I felt my heart skip a beat before beginning to slow down. _He's not coming?_

_ No. I've checked everywhere; here, the hotel, the blocks nearest. He's not coming._

I heaved a sigh. "You're right. Sorry. I overreacted." Usually I'm not prone to spastic tendencies... "But we do need to get back to the hotel."

I shot a glance over at my shoulder, barely managing to refrain from wincing. "We need to do something about..." I motioned towards the body. "It's not like we can leave him here."

Was I imagining it, or was there a softer light in Rue's eyes? "I'll do it. You go ahead, I'll catch up in a few hours."

I nodded and left the building without a single backwards glance.

* * *

><p>When I awoke the following morning, the first thing that hit me was the pain. Gritting my teeth, I opened an eye and glanced around at my surroundings. I was laying on my stomach on the couch, head propped up on my left arm whilst my right hung limp off of the side. I could just barely see Kyona over the divider between the "living room" and bedroom. The kid was sound asleep, curled into a little ball amidst a pile of covers. Rue was nowhere in sight, and the bathroom door was open. I sideways peek showed me that he wasn't on the balcony, either.<p>

I heaved a sigh. At least things were somewhat normal.

_KC..? You awake?_ Trey asked, hopping up from the coffee table and scampering over next to my head.

_Rhetorical questions much?_ I sent him a small smile. The loctopus backflipped onto my back, then crawled under my shirt and secured himself at the base of my neck, just like old times.

If only things could be that simple again, when I knew who to kill, who to protect. Back then, traitors weren't much of a threat, and we had an entire army out to kill us. I honestly was beginning to miss knowing who was on my side and who wasn't. Even then, it wouldn't take me long to sort it out. Here, I (we) had a killer following my every move (supposedly). I could almost miss the old days.

As I said before, emotions are overrated. Besides, what's life without challenge?

_So, what now?_ asked Trey.

_Hmm... Not sure. At the least, I believe Kira killed Hus. In fact, I'm willing to bet he knew someone, whether it be us or not, who was out interrogating the agents. At most, he knows who we are, but he can't kill us because he doesn't know our name. If that were the case, we should be safe for a while because in this... dimension, let's say, Kyona hasn't been born yet, and I'm only a few months old and living at an orphanage in San Diego, I think. It was San Diego or San Francisco._

_ San Diego,_ said Trey.

_Okay. It's Rue that I'm worried about. After all, if Kira got a hold of him... he wouldn't have a problem with getting people's names. Worse case scenario aside, Kira might have killed all of the FBI agents to protect himself. If he did, that would put L in a difficult situation. It would mean that one of the Yagamis are Kira, or that he would reach the same conclusion as myself._

_ What if one of the Yagamis is Kira, and we're falling behind?_

My eyes hardened. _Then we'll pick up the pace. We can't afford to miss this. Then again, we might not even need to find him after what happened yesterday. He may already have our faces and names, and the only thing keeping us alive are our aliases.  
><em>

At that moment, the handle to the door to the room rattled. I dove to the floor, wincing as I accidentally put my right arm down to steady myself. I watched as the door creaked open, heart pounding, then relaxed as I recognized the navy blue and black Adidas that skimmed the carpet in silent footfalls.

"Rue." I slowly got to my feet, noting the ever-present throb in my shoulder. This thing was really getting on my nerves.

The killer's eyes flitted to me for a moment as he set the paper bag on the coffee table and pulled out of jar of jam. I peered into the bag hopefully. Inside, were two glorious oversized bags of Pixie sticks and an extra large lollipop. I sent him a grateful smile, dug the bag from the bag and tugged the top off. I downed the first few packets of flavored sugar as Rue ate his jam with the dagger. We ate in silence, until Trey nudged me.

I ran Rue through a shortened version of my thoughts as quietly as I could, so as not to wake Kyona. The schizophrenic sat quietly, listening.

When I was finished, I gobbled down the rest of the bag of sticks and shot him a sideways glance. Then I found myself laughing.

His eyebrows raised questioningly.

"We're a mess, aren't we?" I chuckled softly. "Me, shot and hobbled; you, bruised from numerous kicks; Kyona, mentally."

The ebony-haired man was silent. I sighed. The long silence drew out until a soft murmur from Kyona sent me shooting to my feet.

The six-year-old sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Ishi-chan..?"

"Morning," I smiled softly.

Twin amber orbs stared up at me, alight. "We're getting closer. I can feel it."

I blinked, surprise at the sudden change in her tone. Had she overheard what I'd been telling Rue? But I admired the kid's spirit above all else.

I could feel my spirits lift, just as Trey dropped his own bomb.

_KC, look at what I found. _Police records suddenly flooded my mind. _I used the leftover link from Autumn's hack to access the files from the police station, and look what I found._

"Trey..." I whispered, awed at the numbers and letters that flashed before my eyes. "You're a genius!"

"Huh?" Kyona blinked, puzzled.

I could feel some of my old spunk returning as a grin curled the corners of my mouth. I turned so that I could glance between the two.

"Rue, Kyona, pack your things; we're going for a little sightseeing," I said in a sing-song voice.

The duo exchanged a glance.

* * *

><p>"So... what are we doing, exactly?" Kyona murmured as the six-year-old clutched at my hand. The three of us were ambling in the heart of the city, getting closer and closer to the destination I had in mind.<p>

"If Daniel died because of Kira, then he had a good reason. Kira only kills criminals, so he must have been under a lot of pressure to go after an agent," I explained under my breath so that the people around us couldn't hear.

"L was getting close," guessed Kyona.

I nodded. "Too close, so Kira killed the agent. But whether it was us or L that caused it, I'm not sure of yet. The Yagamis must be involved somehow, because I seriously doubt that we terrified Hus to death."

"We're going to break into their house?" Kyona's eyes widened.

"No; in fact, we're not going anywhere near the Yagami household. We're going to pay a visit to the Kitamuras." At Kyona's baffled expression, I continued. "When Trey hacked the police files overnight, he purposely left evidence of hacking on the Kitamura computer."

Her eyes widened. "Kitamura! That was the last name of the Directer who orders the police officers working on the Kira case!"

I nodded. "Kitamura found have the field reports, should there be any, along with plenty more physical evidence, so... I'm going to have a look around his house to see if I can find any palpable evidence from the case. Form there, I-"

"What's 'palpable' mean?"

I sighed. She's a kid, KC. Don't blow a gasket. "Able to be felt; solid; not digital. Basically it's anything that we can carry around with us, and not on a laptop."

"Oh, okay. So we're going to rob him?"

I messaged my forehead. "That's one way of looking at it, but it's going to be more like... a stakeout, if you will. You and Rue need to watch from a distance while I rummage around his house. I'll see what I can dig up and you tell me if anyone's coming."

Her eyes clouded with an emotion I couldn't read, but she nodded all the same.

"I need you to hold out a little longer, kiddo," I smiled down at her, putting on what I hoped was a comforting smile. She returned it without hesitation. My little apprentice was growing up.

During our "heart-to-heart" talk, Rue walked beside us, silently eying the crowd with his peripheral vision. I swear the guy could pass as a real zombie sometimes, as little sounds as he makes when he walks and the haunted look in his eyes, no matter the occasion. At least it was enough to make people keep their distance; there wasn't a chance anyone could hear us, the wide birth that they gave us and our low voices.

Trey shivered at the base of my spine as he monitored the cameras on our current block. The loctopus, though silent, notified me occasionally with side thoughts.

The three of us walked the streets until we reached the right street. Roughly forty-five minutes had passed and a light drizzle was dampening any and all who were outside. The soft patter on my jacket soothed me slightly, as rain normally did. Unlike most covert agents, I found rain an important contributor to cases. To others, rain washed away scent trails and fingerprints, but to me, rain was evidence all on its own. Rain hid tears. Rain left wet footprints on dry floors. Rain left puddles. Rain evaporated. Whilst it sent most inside to avoid getting wet, it sent me outside, looking for those who might take advantage of the precipitation. But if there was one more of precipitation I liked most, it was snow. Snow left behind footprints, and covered them. It was also easier to follow a trail of blood against a white backdrop. But as we walked the streets, I was glad it didn't usually snow in Japan, especially today.

_Almost there... _Trey murmured.

I squeezed Kyona's hand lightly, signaling for her and Rue to break away. The girl sent me a reassuring smile before slipping her hand from mine. This next part required sole effort on my part.

I listened to their footsteps grow less frequent and softer as they slowed down. When I was nearing the end of the block, I could no longer here them.

Glancing around, I felt the inside of my jacket pocket for the diamond lighter I'd used when I'd broken Rue from the asylum. I wasn't exactly sure why I'd brought it, but hey. Instinct is instinct; it does what it pleases, regardless.

_Coast's clear._

I swiftly crossed the street, stopping in front of the Kitamura house. A swift overlook showed me that no one was home.

Perfect.

I ambled up the driveway, as though I were nothing but a guest. When I reached the front porch, I stumbled and fell, as though I'd tripped. Wincing as my shoulder throbbed in protest, I gritted my teeth and slunk into the bushes on all fours. Once hidden, I took off the belt I'd made before we'd left the hotel. I'd made it in roughly half an hour, so I hadn't had the time to test it properly. I could only hoped that it worked.

I peered up at the small house, but all of the windows were shut, and the front door was most likely locked. Time for Plan B, I guess. Good thing I like to plan things out.

_Trey, anyone on the streets?_ I asked as I rolled up the belt, buckle on the inside.

_Duo left, and the neighbor's dog is asleep._

_ Good._ Everything was still going according to plan. I maneuvered into a crouch and slipped around the side of the house, then around to the back. Still no luck with the windows, and there wasn't a back door. Shoot. Oh well.

I stood up and glanced around. No one was in their backyards. I slipped the belt into my jacket pocket next to the lighter, withdrawing one of my fake ID cards. This one was my Japanese alias, Amaye Ishi. At least I had an excuse for carrying it around. A single look at the windows told me that it should work.

Placing the card at the bottom of the window, I shoved the ID card under the lip, scratching off a bit of the paint. Teeth gritted, I slid the card back and forth until-

Click.

Now grinning, I yanked the card out and slipped it back into my pocket. I loved the window locks from my childhood days. All you needed to unlock them was to slid a card under the frame and push the bolt out of the way. Unfortunately, when I got older, the locks were updated so that picking them required a flat head screwdriver, a pack of expanding bubble gum (not exploding, as I did on one occasion), wire cutters and a strong magnet.

Grasping the edge of the window with my practically nonexistent fingernails, I managed to shove it open. I hoisted myself into the windowsill and peered around.

The window was in the dining room. The walls were a soft yellow, the tiled floor a matching orange. In the middle of the room was a circular wooden table, six chairs placed around it. Off to one side was a small table with some type of flower in a green glass vase that reminded me of the game Green Glass Door Susan and I played back in the day. The roof could go through, but not the ceiling. The floor could go through, but not the ground. It was one of the few child's games I enjoyed; it increased your ability to twist the English language, and helped foreigners pick up on it faster.

On that amused note, I swung myself inside and dropped silently to the floor. So far, so good.

It took me a while to search the main rooms, but came up empty. Time for the bedroom.

I pushed open the last door in the house, and felt a smile trying to force its way out. Yet another police officer whose bedroom was a mess. It never fails to amuse me.

I pushed all abstract thoughts to the back of my mind and plunged headfirst into the disaster of a bedroom. It took almost thirty seconds to skim the filed paperwork layed out on the desk; Trey recorded it in record speed. Nothing I already didn't know, but a hard copy would be good. For a moment, I wished I hadn't lost my camera-pen in Brazil; it would have made this a lot easier. I swift glance around showed me that there wasn't a copier nor a printer, either. Oh, well. I'd do what I could.

Next came the closet. The top two places people like to hide things are in their mattress or closet. Small, flat objects in the mattress of the bed, large, bulky objects in the closet. There was nothing of particular interest to me in the closet, so I moved on to the bed. Still, I came up blank.

Hmm... This guy was a tough nut to crack, youngest or not.

The only thing left in the room was his laptop. I was heading that way when the loud thud of a door caused me to leap a good two feet straight up.

_Trey! You were suppose to tell me if someone was coming!_ I thought as I wildly dove under the bed, wincing a little. I knew the carpet burn would come back to bite me in the butt later.

For this, the loctopus had no reply other than, _Oops._

I listened to the footsteps that echoed throughout the house, heart pounding in my chest. _Do you know who it is?_

_ Actually, I didn't see them on any of the tapes. I've been watching from a few blocks over on zoom view._

I hissed under my breath. _Fine time to tell me! _

A soft, fast-paced humming drew my gaze to the door as a pair of shoes entered the room. I couldn't see the legs- the end of the bed was in my way- but its feet were practically skipping as it made its way over to the desk. There was a soft clatter then a voice.

"Mm..." There was a light tapping that I recognized all too well: the tapping of fingers against a keyboard. A long mechanical series of clanks and whirs came from the desktop, then the sound of rustling paper. "Yagami... what have you gotten yourself into now..?"

I lay on the floor, eyes narrowed. Didn't he _know_ his men were out to catch Kira?

Suddenly, there was a sharp rustling and papers floated down around the pair of feet. The man heaved a deep breath.

"Dammit..." A hand appeared and began to fix the mess. I held my breath, hoping that I had pushed myself far enough under the bed...

"Mm..? What's this? Something about... a belt..? *sigh* Matsuda... your report seems to be the vaguest and most descriptive of them all..."

Then the footsteps retreated, and the man was gone.

_Trey! You with me?_

_ Never left._

_ Hold on tight!_ I drug myself out from under the bed and scrambled into a hasty crouch. The front door slammed shut. _Good. He didn't notice the dining room window._

_What are you- oh. Oh. Oh! Why?_ Trey screamed in my head. _What happened to 'not prone to spastic tendencies'?_

I mentally shot him an evil grin. _I'm just awesome like that._

As I left the room, I snatched up a piece of paper and scribbled down the necessities. Then I folded it as small as I could get it and held it, crumpled, in my hand as I leaped through the back window, closing it firmly behind me.

_Trey, where're the others?_

_ End of the block. He's heading straight for them._

_ Excelent..._ I purred silently. Taking a small running start, I vaulted the fence and landed smoothly in the neighbor's backyard. Running in a small crouch, I skirted the house, the stood upright and paced myself from the side of the house to the road, as if getting the morning paper. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kitamura turn the corner and disappear onto another street.

_Trey, keep track of him._

_ On it._

A swift glance showed me that Rue and Kyona had crossed the street and were walking straight for me. I picked up the pace and brushed right past them, slipping the paper into Kyona's pocket with a practiced hand. That should answer most of their questions.

I followed the young police officer through the twists and turns of the road, pacing myself so that he was just out of eyesight, but not enough for him to outrun me should it come to such measures. Trey navigated me through the heart of town, right up until we came to an intersection where the cameras were down.

_Dammit! Street lights are out, cameras are down, cars are sitting in the middle of the road, people are ambling about, everything's a mess,_ Trey growled. _I can't find him. You'll have to do what you can on your end._

I bit my lower lip. This is why I like to plan out things ahead of time. This was just a spur of the moment sort of thing, and look where it had gotten me. Then again...

_Trey, where's the police station?_

_ We passed it a few blocks back. Why?_

I allowed a small grin to slip out. _He's not working at the station today, yet he mentioned 'others'... Who would he be out meeting around noon? I think our officer got off for lunch and went home to get his... _"belt"_... before going back to work, but more important work..? _

_The Kira case,_ Trey guessed.

_If they're working with L, they'll need a secret place to meet up with Watari..._

_ Oh, okay. So we're looking for a man in a trench coat?_

_ Remember the other officers, too: Chief Yagami, Mogi, Aizawa, Ide, Ukita, Matsuda..._

_ We've come a long ways, haven't we?_

_ Uh, sure, Mr. Sentimental. Anything else I should know about?_

_ Nope!_ he replied cheerfully. _Now let's find that officer!_

_ Someone's emotional..._ I thought with a smirk as I looked around, but Trey's good mood hadn't brushed off on me. As I twisted and turned, my sights didn't land on the man. He had disappeared.

I sighed. So much for my awesome plan... At least we have a lead now. _The group catching Kira... something about a "belt"... a code name, or something more..?_

* * *

><p><em>So, if anyone is confused about why she went after Kitamura and his family and such a short notice, it's for a few reasons, the primary one being so as to keep my fanfic along the lines of the original plot line. In the manga and anime, it was the Yagami and Kitamura households who were suspected, so I had to fix it so that L would have a reason to send agents after both. In my fanfic, Kyona accidentally left traces of a hack on the chief's computer, but not enough to detect that it was long distance. Trey did the same thing, but to Kitamura's computer, though his was intentional. After that, KC knew that L would send agents to watch the Kitamuras , so she decided to go search his house right away. And if you remember, L gave the Task Force the belts so that they could send out a help signal if needed. We all know Matsuda to be a little immature (not in a bad way), so it's logical for him to forget things, so why not a belt? And as to why they're being so relaxed that Kira may already know of them, Autumn knows that she's safe, seeing as how she isn't born in a few more decades; no one except for L would know Beyond's real name, and KC has nine million aliases, and was only born roughly a month ago. I hope that cleared up any confusion.<br>_


	12. Sacrifices

_Whoa... I feel like a little writing machine! Back-to-back updates! Woohoo! C: And now to answer a few questions from reviewers, since I've been neglecting it a bit... XD  
><em>

_at **WolfishMoon**: Definitely! :D _

_at **GodsOfDeathLikeApples**: No, but when you mentioned it I looked it up and... _wow_. __8O __He's _amazing!_ :D_

Watashi ga shoyū shite imasen _Death Note._ Yo no soy dueño_ Death Note. I do not own Death Note. (Japanese, Spanish, English! :D)  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Sacrifices<strong>

When I set foot back at our newest hotel room, I was met with annoyed glares. I closed the door firmly behind me and tossed a stack of papers onto the bed.

"Any and all written information on the Kira case. Found it in our officer's room. I made the copies at Wal-Mart." As it turns out, they _did_ have Wally World in the Kanto region of Japan; that alone brought a smile to my face.

"Uh huh," Rue licked a jam-coated digit. The schizophrenic sat hunched over in his ever-popular "L pose" on the single bed in the tiny room, eating jam as though his life depended on it. The kid stood near the counter, twirling the knife as I'd seen Rue do many a times.

I nodded at Kyona, eying Rue at the same time. "You teach her that?"

"Uh huh."

"Don't tell me you're both pissed."

Rue raised an eyebrow, while Kyona's glare melted into a puzzled look.

"What does-"

"Nevermind," I interrupted swiftly. I gave them a hurried recap of what had happened, only for Rue's smirk and Kyona's eyes to widen. "In other words, Kitamura mentioned something in Matsuda's report of a 'belt,' also hinting that it wasn't in any of the other's field reports. When you're an officer of the law, BA, CIA, or even Secret Service, you have to write a field report, and I've learned the not all things can be overlooked."

"So you're gonna do a stakeout with Matsuda..?" asked Kyona, rolling the name off of her tongue. I nodded. "How can I help?"

Ooh. I hadn't gotten that far in my plan. "Well... I need to be able to see, so I think you can set up the cameras, and-"

"We're bugging the house?" questioned Rue in an amused tone.

"Not exactly. We're bugging the street Matsuda lives on," I corrected. "_I_ would be the house bug."

"Watch out for flyswatters."

That man has a weird sense of humor. Then again, at least he has one. There were some people I know who couldn't take a joke to save their life.

"So we sit back and watch as you get to have all the fun?" pouted Kyona.

I smirked at that one. "No. It means that you get to save my butt, should the occasion arise."

"One question," Rue interjected, "where might you get said cameras?"

Well, crap. I'd forgotten that this wasn't the old days. You know what? Referring to them as "the old days" just makes me feel old and really off of my game. Let's just call it yesterday, seeing as how people tend to refer to the past as "yesterday." But yesterday was gone, and today was staring me straight in the face. When all I knew was past and future, it sure made our current predicament look dark.

I sighed, but my pride wouldn't let me do any more than that. "Around."

"Uh huh."

This guy was itching for a fight. "Now, any _other_ questions?"

"In other words, you're just going to wing it and hope you don't screw up."

I was honestly ready to shove Rue's head through a wall. "No... We're planning it out _right now_, in case you didn't notice."

"Uh huh," he smirked as he stuck his hand back in the jar of jam. "So you're going to _stalk_ a young _male_ police officer to see if you can figure out what's up with his _'belt.'_"

My eyes narrowed. Is he suggesting..?

Oh. No. He. _Didn't_.

"I will not hesitate to throw _you_ from the balcony," I growled, pointing.

He shrugged. "Just saying."

Poor kid was standing off to my left, eying us in confusion.

"You'll understand when you're older," I said with another glare at Rue. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Ugh, men. "And no, and yes."

"So you agree."

"To a degree."

"Which part? All of it?"

"Never knew you were such a _hentai_..." I shot back.

"A what?"

"Urgh... nevermind..." I resisted the urge to head the nearest object, or kick it. I swear, someone's head was going to get bashed through the wall before the day was over.

* * *

><p>The plan was finally "finished" around nine o'clock, which was very beneficial to me seeing as how I had to get up around two thirty in the morning.<p>

I am not a morning person, especially after getting roughly four hours of sleep. But, in the words of Rue, "Suck it up."

Jerk.

And that was how I ended up walking to the other side of town (because I'm too stupid to get a hotel room closer) to the Matsuda household. Sadly enough, there wasn't even a hint of clouds in the sky. As I walked, Trey downloaded the much-needed blueprints Rue was sending us through Kyona's laptop. How he had gotten them, I didn't want to know. But the blueprints of the house would be useful; I didn't want to waste time trying to find my way around the house.

As I drew closer, stifling a yawn, I noticed a single light on in a certain room. (That _was_ the bedroom, right? I'm honestly not very good at reading blueprints.)

_Now why would our "suspect" be up four in the morning..?_ I pondered as the light in the bedroom flickered. _He couldn't be getting ready this early, could he..?_

A sudden breeze buffeted the trench coat (the same one I'd used during the failed attempt at "sneaking" into the asylum) and I drew the gray fabric around me. The temperature seemed to have dropped a few degrees, though I knew it was just wind chill. I could feel the diamond lighter pressed up under my rib cage along with my fake ID card.

For this particular operation, I was hoping that the dark gray of the coat would help me blend in with the gray-ish color of the neighborhood houses, or in the middle of a rainstorm. Plus, it wouldn't look too out of place. I was also wearing a black skort, my experimental belt, the diamond bracelet from the (failed) kidnapping, and a silver, sleeveless turtleneck.

The sleeveless-ness probably wasn't the best of ideas, but my shoulder was giving me hell, and even though the bleeding had stopped, Rue insisted that I keep the bandage on. (Who the hell does he think he is, anyways? Last time I looked, he enjoyed _harming_ people, not healing them.) But you know me: I took it off the minute I was out of sight, _but_... now the coat was rubbing it raw. I'd be lucky to make it another ten minutes before I was covered in blood.

Ugh... I never win...

But back to reality (excuse my horrid narrations)...

I walked calmly up to the driveway to his house, then turned and walked along the fence, alongside the house, and into his backyard. Luckily, his windows had the same old-timy locks, so it took me a few seconds to unlock the window and pry it open silently.

Now for the hard part.

I took off my black, three inch heels (they're excellent for stabbing unexpected muggers) and chucked them into the neighbor's yard. The trench coat followed them swiftly. At least he wouldn't be able to find them if I had to make a quick escape. I quickly yanked a pair of black socks from my pocket and slipped them over my feet, then slid through the windowsill to land near silently on three limbs on the tiles dining room floor.

Though my heart was pounding, I forced my breaths to slow, so faint that they were deathly silent. Slithering along the floor like a cat stalking prey, I kept a steady pace from the dining room, through the living room, down the hallway, only hesitating outside of the bedroom door. The flickering light was illuminating the shadowed hallway, just enough for me to see. Under the door, no shadows moved. If it was ever the time to move, it was now.

I took a deep breath, held it, then flicked my diamond necklace into my hand and stuck it through the tiny crack in the door. I ran the room over twice, but only to freeze when a slip of my hand sent the jewelry tumbling to the auburn colored carpet.

I jerked my hand out of the doorway and remained crouched, paralyzed, unable to see Matsuda's reaction.

Did he see me? Did he hear me? It was all I could do to keep my breath from escaping.

After a minute of so of agonizing wait, I finally had to breathe. Released from the pressure, I tentatively stuck my hand back in the doorway long enough to snatch the bracelet back up and shove it in my pocket.

Good. I don't _think_ I was seen...

_Trey... you know what to do._ That was all I had to say, then the loctopus had leaped from the base of my neck, over my shoulder, and landed on the carpet.

_On it, sergeant!_ The mechanism immediately scudded under the door.

I closed my eyes, allowing myself to float back into my subconscious. I could see all around my Trey maneuvered around the messy floor. As a loctopus, it looked as though there were mountains in the floor. (Hmm... I wonder whose bedroom is messier, Kitamura's or Matsuda's...)

_Focus your cameras on Matsuda, _I ordered.

In a nanosecond, I was-

What the-?

_Whoa! Since when have you been able to do_ that? I gaped as the loctopus scrambled around atop the desk.

_The jumping? Um... since you reprogrammed me..?_ he tried with a sheepish smile.

I felt myself begin to gnaw my thumbnail, though I was still in Trey's mind. _Is he awake?_

Trey focused on the man's face. The young police officer was asleep, sitting in his chair, head on his crossed arms which rested on the desk.

_Poke him._

The loctopus's huge jump landed him smack-dab on the man's forehead. I breathed a sigh of relief. (As opposed to cracking up, which I probably would have done had the situation not gotten me so worked up.)

_Thanks, Trey. Coming in._

I hopped up from my crouch, pushed open the door and slid in.

The flickering light I had seen was a candle, sitting on the desk next to a running laptop. Next to it was-

A leather belt with a metal buckle.

Bingo!

I grinned. Mission accomplished! I refrained from dancing over to the desk, and forced myself to sneak. It wouldn't be professional of me to count my chickens before they hatched.

When I reached the desk side, I picked the belt up by my forefinger and thumb, eying it.

What does it do? Is it a weapon? Can it snap into a sword?

_Four o'clock,_ warned Trey as he leaped onto my right shoulder and crawled back to the base of my neck.

_It's not as though I can just run off with it! He's young, but he's not stupid!_ I argued. _Besides, what if he uses it daily for contacting Watari, or something else he'll pick up on instantly if we swap it with a fake?_

_He's the youngest; what's the possibility of him being able to contact Watari personally?_

_ I see you're point, but that 15% is enough for me to say no._

I gnawed my nail as I considered my options. Steal and risk exposing myself even more, or leave it alone and wait until I had more time? It's not as if I wanted to wake up this early again, and this had almost walked into my hands.

Screw it. I'll just stay here and disassemble it _pronto_.

Crouching, I held the belt at eye level, then lay the belt on the floor. I emptied my pockets of everything, ran my hands through the pile of stuff and pulled out the screwdriver I used to lock and release the collar.

Perfect.

(Or not.) It took me almost thirty minutes examine and take the main plating of the buckle off. Confused? Well, as it turned out, there was a hidden button in the buckle, and I could only guess what it would do. So I took it apart. No biggie, right?

Wrong.

I am not a specialist a wiring- I can hold my own, but that's irrelevant- but there was no way I would be able to figure out what they all did in the little time I had, nor did I have to guts to press the button to find out.

Oh, well. Plan B, anyone..?

_Trey, hack Kyona's laptop and leave her a file. Download everything, then put a virus in it and make it play the hour-long version of I Know a Song That Gets on Everybody's Nerves, but up an octave. Oh, and make sure it's nice and loud; I'd like to get a reply back ASAP._

Seven minutes later on the dot, Trey sent me the newly saved document.

'Sparkle here! Looks like the wires of a pager. Too simple for anything more, but the transmission wires are complicated...'

A pager, huh? With a pager, comes a signal... I can tap a signal. And with that tap, I can learn where the signal is going!

I grinned. _Tell her that she's my favorite apprentice, will ya?_

_ Gag me._ But he did it anyways.

I stared down at the belt in my hands. I didn't doubt Kyona's interpretation in the least: the kid knew her stuff.

So... you're a pager... A pager to what, exactly? An alarm, or does it work just like a real pager? If it did, then why would you have more wires for transmission..? Is it so that you leave a false signal to those who try to trace it? If so, I'm holding you in my hands. It wouldn't be all that hard to...

And then it came to me, and I finally found use for that diamond lighter I'd been carrying around in my pocket for the past day.

* * *

><p>The current situation of the spastic woman was highly amusing to Beyond. Stuck alone in the house of a strange man while she tried to find out about his "belt."<p>

_And here I was thinking that she wasn't interested in that sort of thing,_ he thought with another smirk as he downed a mouthful of jam. For the time being, he was experimenting, testing. He wanted to know what made them tick. KC couldn't live without her sugar and hated to sit. She was paranoid and hated stillness in general, and showing her true emotions. Autumn was still a kid, and therefore could be used as such. Her breaking point was loyalty; she would follow those she trusted anywhere, no matter the situation.

Though he had been up since two in the morning, he wasn't even drowsy as he sat on the bed. Posing as L (and practicing posing as L) had gotten him used to the idea of insomnia. He could easily go on two hours of sleep a night. Autumn herself was exhausted, but cheerful.

"I wonder what it could be..." she whispered excitedly as she ran over the pictures of the belt taken by Trey. "It looks like a pager, but the wires... it all comes back to the wires! There're too many for a normal pager, as though it had a more complicated function... And this! This looks like a memory chip!"

BB listened to the girl as she continued to voice her thoughts aloud. Her train of thought in general was seriously impressive for one her age. He would have loved to hang her above a turbine and watched to see how she would try to escape, if she could. To watch the luscious red blood splatter everywhere, just like strawberry jam-

_Focus. Focus on what's important, B._ He shook himself. _You can kill again once KC has L and Kira neck to neck. After all, once she corners them, you can swoop in and kill them both in one sweep. Two birds, one extra bloody stone. All you have to do is sit back, give hints and let the women do the work. Then you can take over and have your revenge._

"_GPS!_"

The sudden shriek jolted the man from his thoughts. He winced at the pitch, and glanced over at the girl, who had shot to her feet, wide eyed.

"It's a Global Positioning System!" she repeated in a shocked whispered. "Then if it's got GPS, then that means..."

He watched as her amber eyed flew wide open, more than they normally were.

"Rue-san, Ishi-chan's..!" she began to pound the keyboard furiously in a new Word document. After a few minutes, she stopped and hit save. Then turned and said in a perfectly calm tone, "GPS, pager; Rue-san. It's an SOS machine, but a lot more complex. It's for emergencies, and probably connects to something that will pop up immediately to L."

_As noted before, this duo's pretty good._

"Hmm... then that would mean that if Ishi-san were to push the button, she might have L or the entire police force, or even the rest of the FBI, come busted down the doors to Matsuda-san's house..." he murmured thoughtfully, as though he too were merely thinking out loud.

She nodded. "That's what I told her."

_Hmm... interesting..._

The duo sat in silence for the next two hours, waiting, until the door exploded inwards and a soaked KC stumbled in, clutching her injured shoulder and gasping for breath.

_Well that was a lovely entrance,_ he thought with another smirk as he noticed the blood that covered the woman when she allowed the trench coat to slip from her shoulders onto the floor.

The part of her wild black hair that wasn't plastered to her head was spiking out at ever angle, her pupils were dilated, teeth gritted in pain. She was limping slightly, and there were multiple scratches and punctures that ran the length of her right arm. And was that..?

Beyond Birthday leaned closer, squinting slightly.

Yes, it was: shards of _glass_ were sticking out of some of the wounds. Now that he looked closer, he could see various scratches over other part of her, too, though most were on her arm. He thought he could see that hint of a piece of glass sticking out of her leg.

But what sold the deal was the huge grin on her face, and what she held up in her bloody right hand.

"Hey, gang, we've found L."

* * *

><p><em>I need to get into the hang of writing from Beyond's point of view, so I'm practicing. *duhn duhn DUHN!* ;)<em>

_(Lots of thanks to Mangafreak666 for correcting my mistake. Thank you!)  
><em>


	13. Diamonds in the Rough

_Ack! I am _so _sorry for the incredibly long wait! At least it wasn't a full month, right..? ^^'_

_at **AnimeVamp1997**: Actually, you'll have to wait another chapter to find out what happened. A few causes are hinted at in this chapter, but it's not fully explained. ;)_

_I don't own DN, and all that other stuff.  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Diamonds in the Rough<strong>

Beyond was now _highly_ amused. He listened through the closed bathroom door as KC began to doctor herself at the sink. He could hear the occasional click of tools as she set them on the marble counter top.

"Mind telling us how you got into such a state?" he called through the wood.

"You sure you wanna know?" A soft hiss, then the unmistakable _chink!_ of glass being tossed in a trash can.

"If I didn't, what would be the point in asking?" a little irritation seeped into his voice.

"Let's say I screwed up and leave it at that."

"C'mon, where's the fun in that?"

There was a soft sigh, then the door swung open and the woman stepped out. She was shirtless, but it wouldn't have mattered if she dressed like an Eskimo, the amount of bandages she wore: a large one wrapped around her torso, her entire right arm and shoulder hidden behind slightly pink wrappings, a few band-aids on her face and around her collarbone, and the upper portion of her left leg supported a matching shade of white.

He watched as she tossed her bloody outfit across the room and into a corner near the door. He noted the collar, still fastened around her neck. She never seemed to take it off, except for his "first night home." As she turned around and crouched to open the mini fridge, he found himself eying the spider-like mechanism at the base of her neck, just under the silvery metal. Trey, she called it. From this angle, he could see the way the long, limber legs sunk into the skin, using the punctures as purchase.

Just like how he wished the sink a blade into skin; nice and slow, drawing it out. It meant more to him if L knew his victims died a painful death- then he would be motivated even more so to find the killer. If only he could do that now...

_No,_ he reminded himself yet again. _Just a little bit longer- just wait for her to explain what happened- and then you can decide whether or not to change your plan._

B watched the detective as she stood, soda in hand, and glanced around the room.

"Did I seriously get a room with only one bed?" she asked, a deadpan expression on her face.

Beyond smirked.

She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, her face had wiped itself of emotion.

"So... mind telling me what this is?" he held up the object between his forefinger and thumb, and this time, it wasn't a side effect of imitating L. Whatever it was, it was translucent, and had more wires than he was comfortable with. Beyond Birthday liked things nice and simple when it came to procedure of killing; the style, now _that_ was the fun part.

"Diamond lighter I burned your files with," she replied as she sprawled out on her back on the tiny "kitchen" counter top. She hung her left leg from the counter so that her foot hovered just above the floor, her right leg bent with the heel pulled close to her. Her closed eyes would have left most thinking that she was relaxed, but I could see her flex her hands, curling and uncurling them into fists.

"Uh huh..." BB looked the oddity over again. "I'm guessing it's more destructive now."

"Only in L's case." He didn't miss the slight lift at the corner of her mouth.

"Care to elaborate?" _Or are you just going to lay there until Autumn gets back from whatever she's doing downstairs?_

"Mm..."

_Guess so..._

Beyond watched as her body slowly began to relax, her hands uncurling for a final time. KC was a peculiar woman; she seemed to have no problem to walk around in nothing but a bra and shorts, but the minute she was held in one place: _bam!_ She went nuts! She didn't seem to care what people saw in her, just if they saw _her_ in general.

And here she lay, unmoving, splayed out on the marble, bandages tinted pink with fresh blood. So tempting, yet just out of reach... Now free, a few of his old urges were returning, minus the common sense that usually drove it. Sometimes, he just wanted to-

_No. I can't kill anyone, not just yet. After all, if we win him over, then I have the feeling that _we'll_ be the unsolvable case._

It was a few minutes later that Beyond realized that every muscle in KC's body had gone limp, her breathing slow and deep. He almost snorted.

_Guess this is her other reaction to getting little rest,_ he thought, bemused. He watched her a while longer, but her breathing never wavered. It was slow enough, too. She truly was asleep.

_I guess a little nick or two wouldn't hurt..._ B slipped from the bed, sliding the diamond dagger from his belt. He strode over to the detective, dark chocolate eyes flashing. When he reached her side, he brushed his hand lightly over her chin. If she were pretending to be asleep, she would usually make some response to his freezing touch, like a twitch, but none came. Perfect.

Beyond Birthday, a shadowed light in his eye, ran the flat of the blade along the woman's jugular, just above the collar, heart pounding. He could see her life force running through her veins, the blue and red liquid that kept her alive. All it would take was a sleight of hand, and it would be over all too fast. All he needed was a little blood.

He flicked the blade into his other hand, purposely catching the dagger low so that momentum carried it downwards just far enough to kiss the skin. A thin, pink line roughly a centimeter long traced the right side of the Adam's apple. B eagerly watched as the tiniest bubble of red blossomed over the pink, swelled. He leaned over so that he was directly above her neck. The blade seemed to teleport into his right hand again as he brought it down, scooping up the blood drop. He licked it, then blinked at its sharp bitterness. The amount of iron in her bloodstream was shocking for one who ate mostly sugar.

Even so, it didn't matter to Beyond. It was just a little experiment, nothing more, nothing less. It had been a long time since he had last tasted human blood, but it was a sensation he never forgot. He wasn't obsessed with it- as those might think about cannibals- but he was a serial killer, not a cannibal. It didn't matter one way or another to him; he preferred strawberry jam, anyways.

The schizophrenic turned and went back to sit on the bed, oblivious to the microscopic shiver of a certain loctopus as he watched from high upon the blades of the ceiling fan.

* * *

><p>Awakening to the sound of shattering glass is never fun, especially if you happened to have jumped through a window moments before you fall asleep. At least I didn't have dreams about that.<p>

My eyes shot open and pain exploded in my back. Wincing, I twitched all of my limbs, only to find myself in the oddest of positions; my right leg was twisted under my body while my left was propped up on top of the mini fridge. My right shoulder was throbbing, and I was almost positive I could feel the stickiness of drying blood around my neck and shoulder blade. My left arm was twisted behind my back and was caught in something that felt suspiciously like wires. My right arm was completely numb, so I had no way of knowing its whereabouts. (It could have been amputated for all I knew.)

And then I toppled from the counter top, throwing out my left arm so that I just barely avoided faceplanting into the floor. My left leg, unfortunately, took some of the weight, and I hissed in pain. Damn glass...

"Ishi-chan! Are you okay!" And then Kyona was at my side looking worries. "Oh! You're bleeding!"

I looked myself over, but for some reason, my chin didn't go down at far as far as it usually did. What's up with that..? I warily felt my neck, only to be met by the coolness of the collar and the dampness of bandages.

Huh. That's weird... I didn't get cut on my neck at all, so why would I be cut, and then have it wrapped?

And then I realized that Trey was missing from his familiar spot, though his movements were still being logged in my mind.

"Ishi-chan?" Kyona's concerned face drug me out of the back of my mind before I could look into what Trey was doing.

"I'm fine, kiddo. Just a little sore." I glanced at the digital clock that sat on the tiny nightstand next to the single bed. It was eight o'clock. Ugh... it felt like three a.m. And then I noticed that something else was missing- or rather, someone. "Hey, where'd Rue go?" The bathroom door's open...

She shrugged. "When I came back from breakfast- they're serving it in the lobby for free- he said that he was going for a walk. That was two hours ago."

Schist. I honestly wasn't in the mood to lead a man hunt.

"Okay." I sighed and gently rubbed the back of my neck, which felt a little cold. "I'm going to check if Trey has anything new."

She nodded, then immediately bellyflopped on the bed and didn't move.

Mostly satisfied, I reached into the back of my mind and looked through Trey's eyes. The loctopus was scuttling around, leaping from place to place. He looked to be keeping a good pace, though it wasn't hasty. Tailing Rue, maybe..?

_Gah! You scared me!_ Trey yelped when I said hello.

I almost grinned. _Same to you. Mind telling me what's going on?_

_ To start, there's a bandaged cut on your neck-_

_ Yeah. That's definitely new._

_ -and it's from Rue._

_ And this is- wait, did you just say..?_

_ Rue,_ he confirmed, then shoved a recording into my mind.

Knife, blood, licking the blade, going to sit back down, waiting, getting up, wrapping my bleeding neck in a bandage, sitting back down.

_So... he cut me, then felt sorry for it..? _

_ He's a serial killer, KC. He's dangerous. You're already risking your life enough to find a way to get back._

_ I know, I know..._

I felt my tangible self begin to gnaw my fingernail.

Rue sliced my neck open with reserved precision... For some reason, the thought in itself didn't bother me- I knew what I was getting into when I gave him the dagger- but more so the fact that he bandaged me afterwords.

Is it pity? Guilt? Stubbornness? I shook my head, trying to dislodge the mass of ideas that were forming. There just was no getting my head around this guy, was there?

_Where does he seem to be going?_

_ No clue. So far, he's just walking in figure eights. I can't see him very well, but when I can, he seems to be slumped over. And he's not wearing shoes._

I pulled my head back, eyes narrowed. _Shoes? Weird... I guess I'll figure that one out later. For now, tell me your coordinates so I can pick you up. We'll tail him together._

_ Deal._

I melted solidly back into my own thoughts, still keeping a hold of Trey's mind.

"Kid, I'm going to go get Rue. He took Trey with him to prove that he didn't run off," I lied smoothly.

"Okay! I'll get ready!" she said brightly, springing to her feet.

"No," I placed a hand on her shoulder. "I need you to stay here and hold down the fort. Can you do that? Don't worry; you won't be missing anything."

Disappointment flashed in her eyes, but disappeared almost instantly. "Okey dokey!"

"Thanks, kiddo."

I was ready to fly out of the door, then remembered that some of the Japanese public wouldn't exactly be thrilled with my choice of top. Growling softly, I rummaged around in the miniature suitcase I had permanently borrowed from a store- the hardest things to steal are the largest, I tried to keep it somewhat small- but only to discover that all I had left was a silver work top and a dark gray skort. Ugh, we needed to go "shopping" soon. I quickly changed, then I was gone.

_You're out? Okay, good. He's approaching the corner of..._

I blinked at the sudden silence._ The corner of..?_

_ Turn around._

I halted just outside the hotel and slowly pivoted. It took a moment to take in my surroundings in the heavy crowd. There was no way it should have been _this_ crowded. Maybe there would be a concert in the middle of the street, or there was a jumper. Who knew?

_Argh! I lost him! Gimmie a sec to climb this lamppost..._

I blinked, waiting, and felt a soft tap on my left shoulder. I glanced over, and shot almost a foot in the air at the close proximity of Rue's face.

"Jeez Louise!" I gasped, staggering backwards. "Are you _trying_ to give me a heart attack? What the hell are you doing? Pretending to be a vampire?" _You sure as hell could pass as one..._ I added silently.

For some reason, my suave cover seemed to have slipped off to some imaginary land where I couldn't recover it.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Simply enjoying the lovely day."

My eyes narrowed as I pondered his choice of words. "If you consider getting trampled by Japan's population a 'lovely day.'"

A smile flickered around the edges of his mouth.

Wait. A smile? An honest-to-God _smile..?_ Holy crap... I didn't know it was possible.

And then I realized he'd said something else.

"Sorry, what?" I smiled sheepishly, extending my hand. It took a second longer than I thought it would- some lady almost crushed Trey with her purse- but the loctopus landed in the middle of my palm with pinpoint accuracy. I placed him at the base of my neck and rolled my eyes.

_Fine, fine. I see how it is. Just go and blame it on the poor, little loctopus..._ Trey pouted, then shot me a grin. _JK, my fine fellow, JK._

_Since when were you one to use texting talk from the early twenties?_ I shot back, almost playfully.

_Since_ forever! he crowed.

Rue blinked slowly, his trademark smirk returning. "I _said_... 'would you mind telling me what your extroversional plan is this time?'"

I snorted at his misuse of the nonexistent word, but I had to admit that should the world be in lack of another adjective, 'extroversional' hit the head of the nail.

"Well, Captain America, _first_ we're going to count down from ten! See Captain, we had _ten_ cookies, and then we fed _one_ cookie to _each alligator_, and there were _nine_ alligators. So that means that we fed them _nine cookies!_ So all we need to do is find what _ten_ minus _one_ is! I know, Captain! Let's count down from_ ten!_" I mocked in a childish voice, then dropped back into my regular voice. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

He stared at me with a blank expression then asked in a calm tone, "Are you high? Or drunk? Or possibly both?"

I leaned closer, brushed my hand against my neck and whispered in his ear, "I know all about your blood fetish, Beyond."

Then, I promptly whirled around and melted into the crowd. And then I wondered when he would find the bandage from my neck. I'd left it in his pocket.

* * *

><p><em>Okay, I honestly planned to fit in L at the end of this chapter, but I figured that since I was long overdue for an update, I could post a short one. Cool with everyone..? No one's out for my head..? *comes out from under the table* Good! I'll see what I can do about getting L and the Task Force in the next chapter, eh? ;) <em>

_(But yes, I'm aware that KC is acting a little OOC in this chapter, but would _you_ act normally if you went through one of her ordeals?)  
><em>

Ciao_ for now!  
><em>


	14. Falsetto Mindset

_I. Am. SO. Sorry. D'8  
><em>

_No excuse in the world is acceptable for my crimes. Three months on the dot is _way_ too long, and I sincerely apologize. In truth, I was taking a break from my fanfics to work on a few of my original books (and start a few new ones... XD) and I lost track of time. Honestly, if it wasn't for a persistent friend of mine badgering me for three months straight, this update probably wouldn't have happened for another week at least. All in all, I truly am sorry. :(_

_Also, thanks to all of my dedicated readers, reviewers, favoriters (is that even a word..?), and subscribers! Your words mean a lot to me, especially the constructive criticism! :D_

_In the three exact months I've been gone, I did not suddenly acquire the rights to Death Note, nor any of its corresponding themes._

* * *

><p><strong>Falsetto Mindset<strong>

_Okay, now that I think about, I could have been high. Trey, if I ever start quoting _Dora_ again, kill me before I embarrass the crap out myself._

_ … You are an idiot._

_ Yes... Yes I am._

I stepped out of the shower, teeth gritted in pain. Hot water plus the collar plus the numerous wounds equaled not-so-happy nerves. KC was not a happy camper.

Trey sat on the back of the commode next to my towels. Well, _sitting_ wasn't the best way to describe it. He was on his back, spinning around, limbs flailing. Only his subconscious thoughts told me that he wasn't stuck. I guess even half-inanimate objects have their breaking points.

I snatched up the towels, rubbing my hair with one, then wrapping it around my head, and swiftly drying off myself with the other.

_So... what do you make of the... lighter?_ I asked with a slight hesitation, for lack of a better word. Lighter, not hesitation.

_No tellings unless we test it,_ he replied.

I glanced down at the rapidly spinning body. _It's almost hard to take you seriously._

_ Shut up. Can't I have a little fun?_

I rolled my eyes with a small smile and held out my hand. Two seconds later, I was toting around a loctopus. I swiftly changed into...

Wait...

_Where are my clothes?_ I asked bluntly as I searched the bathroom.

_Umm..._ Trey chuckled nervously. _You just took off your last outfit. Autumn took it downstairs to wash it._

_Oh, for the love of-_

* * *

><p>I was not exactly pleased with wearing a bathrobe- I'd never liked the things, though they were good for hiding knives and other flat weapons- so when Kyona returned with with proper clothing, I was tickled silly. So to speak.<p>

I swiftly changed back into the clothing, noting more than a few rips and tear in the fabric. Oh well. At least I wouldn't be flashing people.

When I next entered the main room, a certain diamond knife sank into the wall, mere millimeters from my neck. There was a squeak from across the room and Kyona dove under the bed.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know you were coming out!" she cried. Hunched over on the bed, Rue smirked at me before raising his eyebrows at the dagger. I cocked an eyebrow and warily jerked the blade from the wall before lofting it over to the schizophrenic.

"Okay... let me guess: you're teaching her how to throw knives."

"You presume correctly," Rue replied. "Not bad- for a beginner."

"I'm not paying for that..." I muttered, gesturing at the slit.

He snorted and closed his eyes, fingering the blade with the delicate precision he always seemed to have with it.

He _doesn't seem freaked,_ Trey mused.

I pegged it as good self control; the guy seemed to have tons of it.

The sun was beginning to lower itself in the sky- it must have been some time between one and four- but I was honestly ready to pass out. Again. Even so, I still had a heck of a lot of explaining to do.

"Listen up, gang," I said, clapping my hands together. Kyona's head immediately popped back up into view, her curly black hair spiking out of its usual ponytail. Rue opened an eye lazily to watch me with the intensity of a hawk. "Now, as you know, this thing-" I snagged the lighter from the night stand near the bed and tossed it into the air, "-is not to be touched by anyone other than _moi_ unless said _moi_ gives you permission."

"What is it?" Kyona piped up.

"Basically? Whatever the heck was in that belt. I was hoping you'd tell me."

"Oh... okey dokey!" she made a peace sign with her fingers.

"Ms. Ryuzaki..?" Rue raised his hand, then paused. "Or would it be Mrs. Ryuzaki?"

I shot him a what-the-hell look. Trey sent me one of his "helpful" facepalm pictures.

"Yes, dearest fiance?" I muttered, rubbing my forehead as I leaned back against the cabinet.

"If you copied the wiring in the belt down to the very last jack, then flicking the lighter would be the same thing as pressing the button."

"Which is why we don't want to accidentally drop it."

…

_Awkward_._.!_ Trey chuckled nervously.

_Hush, you._ Even so, he was right. I guess he found the bandage after all.

"Now, Kyona, if it really is a MUTT, then between the two of us, we should be able to figure out more than a few things about its signal-"

"Why'd you call it a mutt?" Kyona asked, cocking her head to one side.

I sighed. "Mutation Unit of Transgressive Tracking. It means an illegal form of a tracking device made by stealing two governmental, special-issued gadgets and fusing them together. Since it's a blend of a pager and GPS, it could also go by the American term 'mutt' in correspondence to its mixed origins. After all, where did _you_ think iPhones and Bluetooth came from?"

The silence was accompanied by various looks of surprise.

"...Cool!" she exclaimed, confusing fading from her eyes. "You're referring to the GPS app from 2011, right? And... an earwig..?"

"Right!" I shot her an approving smile.

"_Awesome!_" she punched her fist in the air- and then proceeded to belly flop onto the bed. Rue eyed her warily out of the corner of his eye as the hyper girl bounced around on her stomach and buried herself under the covers next to him. I almost burst out laughing at the masked look of horror that washed over his face as she leaned against his side- I might not have noticed it, hadn't his eyes given him away.

_Sucks to be you,_ I smirked.

Honestly? I was ready to jerk her away from the crazy psychopath and tell her to run for it. The guy had freaking _sliced my neck open_. It's not like I was going to overlook something as serious as that. Then again... there was that one time...

He could have killed me. But he didn't.

_And now you seem to have placed your trust in him..._ Trey sighed. _See? For most women your age, they've already settled down with some dude, but seriously..? _B?_ Your taste is way off._

_Tsk. It's not like I had much of a choice. The police were after me and- ...Hey! Wait a second! _I cried, catching on. _Trey-!_

My words were lost on the loctopus, who was drowning in full-blown laughter. For a moment, I wished he really were human so I could strangle the life out of him.

_Honestly,_ I grumbled mentally. _What's with you guys lately? I could've sworn I was surrounded by _hentais_... It's spring._ _Mating season was in the fall._

_ Exactly!_ he crowed.

Luckily for me, it hadn't escaped my control to overcome embarrassment. It took a moment to choke down the blood that tried to rush to my face, so to speak. By that time, I realized that I had company.

"Ah... Trey's being a pain in the butt..." I muttered a half-hearted apology.

_Mm hmm! But not me! How about-_

_Oh, for the love of God!_ I ripped the loctopus from my neck and glared down at him. _Shut. Up. Need I spell it out for you?_

_Someone's moody..._ I didn't miss the sly grin.

My eye twitched. That was the last straw. I hurtled the spider across the room at the wall. Trey slammed against it and bounced back a good yard to fall to the floor- crumpled. His movements weren't being logged in the back of my mind anymore.

"Ah, crap. I overdid it..." I slapped my face, but it was good to be free. But now I'd have to reassemble him. Who knew he was so fragile?

Ugh, I needed caffeine. And sugar. And a whole pound of chocolate. And a nap.

Why must life be so cruel?

Rue cleared his throat loudly, amusement shining clearly in his eyes. "You were saying..?"

Oh. The lighter. Right.

"Kyona-chan? Feeling up for a long night?"

The girl's head shot straight up, eyes shining. "I thought you'd never ask!"

* * *

><p>Beyond was bored out of his mind. After four hours of nonstop wiring, he felt as though he could have passed an exam on the subject. The kid certainly knew her stuff, and he could tell that even KC was a little overwhelmed. She kept fumbling with a few things, but it was clear who knew more on the subject. He smirked. <em>She <em>is_ a detective. I wonder how far her knowledge stretches... she seems to be keeping up so far..._

Suddenly, the woman bolted to her feet. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Autumn frowned, turning away from the bed sheets. Beyond covertly eyed the duo from the couch while licking jam from his fingers.

"I'm an idiot..." she muttered with a chuckle. "This is _L_ we're talking about. I'm such an idiot... No wonder we haven't been getting anywhere!"

"Whacha mean?"

"All this time, we've been trying to figure out anything in regards to the signal, but we should have just sent a falsetto signal instead! I'm such an idiot!" she laughed. "Hey, Kyona? What would happen if say, we were to remake all of this, but with a weak transmitter?"

"Well... it would need a strong satellite to download its information since the MUTT in itself couldn't. Since this is L's work, he'd probably have a strong satellite just in case something like that happened. Y'know, if they had to go underground," she mused.

"And what if, say, we went underground?"

"Well, the signal would probably reach the satellite, but at such a faint resonance that the satellite might not understand it properly. It might log it as interference."

"And if L was monitoring said satellite, would he see said log?"

"Maybe. It would probably be in the system, but it might not be where he could access it automatically. It's kind of like priority mail: L sees what main frequency the satellite plays off of, and everything else he looks at later."

"But seeing as how he's a mastermind-"

"He'd probably go ahead and check everything," finished Autumn.

"And therefor, the signal would be sent, but L would have no idea that it was falsetto unless he checked in depth!" KC grinned maliciously.

Beyond blinked. "And how do you propose you make this falsetto signal?"

"By remaking it, of course, then going underground!" Autumn winked at KC. "Right?"

"Right," the detective smirked.

_Ah... I see. So _that's_ how they plan to get L; not by finding him directly, but by using technology against him. Since it's nonliving, it has no conscious nor memory like a human's so its emotions wouldn't get in the way. Technology also malfunctions- humans do not. They go crazy, are sent to asylums, and are never listened to again._ B held back a twisted grin. _L... I believe we may find you yet._

* * *

><p>I was nervous as all get out, but... well, <em>excited<em> would be a little much. Satisfied? Still not the right word. Oh well.

"All done!" Kyona remarked, holding up a tangled mass of wires. "I used iron in the transmitter instead of copper; that should dampen it enough for when we go underground."

"We're getting underground how?" called Rue from the couch.

I took a deep breath. "The lab I pulled Trey from. Security wasn't tight last time; I dropped in through the ventilation system. Wait. Come to think of it, I blew that up, didn't I?"

"And it's not in Japan," Kyona added.

Well, crap. There went that plan.

"Hmm... I guess we'll have to make do with something else in the meantime," I reasoned. "Yo, Rue? Know someone who's taking a vacation?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"I'll take that as a 'no'... Know what? Let's roam the streets. This shouldn't take long."

It took roughly two minutes get everything ready and another minute to split up. I was hesitant to let the kid go out on her own, but after getting my own dagger pointed at me, I figured she was fine. (But I let her keep it for the day.) Our com units were lacking juice, so I told them to turn them on only when necessary. Together, split up, the three of us should be able to find someone who wasn't home.

I munched on a chocolate bar I'd swiped from a convenience store as I walked, calmly eying the scenery with my peripheral vision. Of course, every house I'd passed so far had people. I glanced at the sky, but the blue clarity shown back at me with a light in its eyes.

_Weird... usually on a sunny day like this, loads of people are out..._

_ They got scared when they saw you coming,_ Trey informed me. I rolled my eyes.

_Does your heat sensor still work?_

_ Not after you threw me into the wall._

I'd managed to reassemble Trey on the way down to the lobby, but a few of his functions didn't work and he no longer had the freakish jumping power. But, hey. It was better than nothing.

The com in my ear buzzed to live. "Hey, Basket, Party! I got a hot one!" came Kyona's voice. "Corner of... ah... two blocks south from the main plaza, one street east."

I mentally smiled. _She does her best, even if she doesn't speak the language._

_ Mentally capable,_ Trey added. _Susan picked well, eh?_

_ Guess so..._

Kyona started to say something else, but at the exact moment, my com died.

_Ah. How convenient..._ Trey remarked.

_At least we have the coordinates._

I made my way over, slowly, but when I reached said corner, it looked as though an evac had been in process. There was literally _no one_ out, nor in, apparently. Had I been a scared little kid, I might have called the street haunted. Tall, dilapidated houses reached up towards the sky. Old trees haphazardly spotted the yards, leaving quirky shadow patterns on the pavement, cars and grass. A few flowerbeds ran the lengths of some houses, but that was it. Most of the houses were a dirty white, but a few were a a faded denim. The street looked as though actual _homo sapiens_ had yet to return to their inhabitants after years of vacations.

Total street population: roughly thirty.

Total street plant population: roughly thirty.

Total street _people_ population: _moi_.

It was almost funny. And awesomely convenient. _Too_ convenient...

_If it weren't for the cars, I'da sworn everyone walked off the edge of the earth quite long ago,_ Trey muttered.

_No kidding._

"Ishi-chaaaaaaaan!" I winced as a very small girl mauled my from behind with one of her fearsome glomps. "Took you guys long enough!"

"Good to see you too, kiddo," I plucked the kid from my figure and glanced around. "Rue already inside?"

Kyona nodded. "Uh huh! This way!"

I followed my apprentice as she skipped up the sidewalk, whistling to herself. Absentmindedly, I noted that she was pretty good, but the tune was foreign to myself. The kid hung a sharp right and disappeared into the ground. I sighed and eyed the cellar door.

_ Oh, well. Let's hope for the best..._ I sighed, moreso to myself than Trey.

* * *

><p><em>Yes, yes, I know I promised an appearance of L in this chapter, but it was getting seriously long and I figured I might as well cut it in half as best I could. Sorry if the ending is a little abrupt. 3X<em>


	15. Six Year Olds Should Rule the World

_Well, I _am _alive... but barely. Recent homework is suffocating, but I'm managing somehow. And lookie! I have a new chapter! That's the good news. The bad? L didn't make it in this chapter. I do apologize for that, and I might be able to get him and the rest of the cast in on the next chapter... but at this rate I have no idea. My schedule's so wayward I feel like I'm running in circles with a cement block on my head. (Then again, I do spend a lot of my time running in circles from place to place...)_**  
><strong>

_at Cretha Loesing: Shh..! No worries; you shouldn't be the only one.  
><em>

_Thank you for all of the support, dearest readers, reviewers, favoriters, followers, and PMers! Your compliments and critique are what keep me running!  
><em>

_**Nope. Still don't own Death Note, but I **_**am**_** aiming for Mesopotamia in the near future.**  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Six-Year-Olds Should Rule the World<strong>

Long story short, Kyona and I sent the falsetto signal. Short story even shorter, I am an idiot. Freakishly short story even freakishly shorter, Kyona figured it all out before me. Confused? Join the club.

"Arizona!" Kyona crowed, pumping her fist in the air. "We did it!"

"L's in Arizona?" I raised an eyebrow. Wha-?

"No! Look!" she pointed to something on the laptop screen. It was a blueprint of America, as though someone had literally tried to build the country. The continent was outlined in a faint silver line, the actual country in bold white. The dotted yellow line stood for the slightly radioactive trace of our signal, and the blue dot where Kyona's figure pointed stood for the tower receiving the signal from the satellite. The _pulsing_ blue dot.

"What's that mean?" I asked suddenly, leaning closer.

"The pulsing? Guess!" she grinned.

"Kid, just tell me."

She pouted. "Just ruin my fun..." But the puffy lips disappeared in a brilliant smile. "It means that we're dealing with a ghost tower!"

My eyes widened. Oh. So _that_ was how L worked.

…

"Are you kidding?" I glanced back at the screen. "All of this for nothing?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it nothing. You've used ghost towers before, right? 'Cause you've worked directly with the President and all? And then you prefer Arizona over all the other states? So surely you know..." she trailed off, frowning.

I blinked. Once. Twice.

_Wow. Hey, KC? You have just been officially schooled by a six-year-old._

I stood back, eyes narrowed. So L uses a ghost tower... Figures he'd unintentionally screw with my head like that. He seemed like the slippery type of guy, though the taunting was new. Somewhat.

"Ghost tower?" Rue's gruff voice came from right next to my shoulder. I choked back a squeak as my subconscious compromised by having me slide to the right very suddenly.

"Yeah," Kyona beamed up at the schizophrenic. "Powerful organizations use 'em sometimes for untraceable things. Y'know, like in those movies where the protagonist always asks, 'Is this line secure?' Well, by secure he means 'Does this line use a ghost tower?' Basically, it's a middle man, but a tower! Well, that or he's asking whether or not the tine can be tapped. They work one of three ways. They either pose as the tower itself- successfully stopping the supposed signal right there, muddle the signal between towers, or..." she grinned mischievously, "can be used to intercept signals transferred via radio waves, aka: tapping."

He smirked, eyes flashing, as he licked the blade of the jam-coated dagger. "Interesting..."

"More like super-duper fascinating!" she giggled.

I patted her head. "Nice going, kiddo."

_You, on the other hand, have thoroughly disappointed me,_ Trey scolded lightly. _Bad, bad KC, letting a child show you up like that._

_ Shut your face,_ I shot back "intelligently." (Quotation marks of sarcasm, compliments of your favorite loctopus.)

And then it clicked.

"Oh!" I exclaimed, leaning over the laptop. "Kyona-chan, zoom in on that pinpoint."

"On it, boss!" she chirped and stabbed a few keys. The picture blurred as it shifted, but swiftly cleared as it refocused on the state. It was Arizona, and it certainly was a ghost tower, and Kyona was most certainly right.

"Twenty clicks northwest, ten meters below average altitude," I murmured, my finger hovering over the flickering screen. "Ghost tower... Tower B."

"You recognize it?" Rue didn't seem to bother with disguising the surprise in his voice.

I nodded, the ends of my mouth twitching. "I used it for a job once or twice. We ran coms off it it. The President uses it nowadays, but, well, I guess that would be in the future. It must be in L's control now," I mused.

"So you know where it connects to the original tower?" asked Kyona excitedly.

The twitching stopped, and I realized I was grinning. "Well now... This is certainly an interesting turn of events..!"

* * *

><p>I couldn't believe my luck. I seriously couldn't. After all this time, waiting, watching, and only to find the solution right under our noses. I'd be willing to bet that not even L could see us coming now. He was playing on <em>my<em> home field by _my_ rules.

"You know, sane people have no idea what you're saying," Rue yawned. The three of us had ransacked the basement in an attempt to find batteries. Unfortunately, our luck had run out. Guess the coms would have to operate a little differently. In the pit of my stomach, something shifted uneasily. With all of our "good fortunes," we were due for one heck of a "crashing back to Earth," and I really wasn't looking forward to it.

Sorry. Kinda got sidetracked. Paranoia does that to you sometimes.

Our odd little trio had split up, leaving the house with different routes at haphazard times to ensure that we couldn't be pegged as comrades. I left by jumping out of the bathroom window, then scurrying along the back fence like a mouse. Amusing enough as it were, all of the backyards were surrounded by the same fence, almost as if everyone shared a yard. The thought made me shiver. I wasn't much of a people person, and if Bob Joe was staring at me all day from his lawn chair, I just might have a stroke.

Argh! Again with the emotions! Screw feelings; they're overrated.

_That's what she said,_ Trey hummed quietly.

_That's what a very, very dead loctopus said,_ I countered. _Okay, here's the plan. This is no time for the four of us to be fighting, since we're up against L. Subconsciously pitting us against each other, I guess. Either way, we're still in the game, especially after this._

_ No kidding. I mean, what's our luck down to? The chance is at least one in a million trillion._

_ I'm surprised that Tower B is that old,_ I smirked. _I'll have to tease Susan about her obsession with old artifacts when we next see her._

_Uh... I think you have bigger problems to worry about._

If I were an amateur, I would have stopped dead in the middle of the road. Luckily for me, (just how good was I going to get it?) I've been in the business for quite some time.

_What is it?_ I hissed.

_Check your four; I'm surprised you hadn't picked up your tail earlier, especially since he practically asked you a question,_ Trey smirked.

I flicked the diamond bracelet around my wrist as I walked, and mentally groaned as I recognized the hunched figure in the reflection. I pivoted on a dime, eyeing Rue with a deadpan expression. What part of 'to each his own' did he miss out on?

"_Hai?_" I raised an eyebrow.

"Hello," he replied good-naturedly. I sighed. So much for his Japanese. The mid-morning sunlight reflected off of the man's onyx hair, which waved in the slight breeze. He wore a long-sleeve black T-shirt, baggy pants and... was barefooted. Again. I almost groaned.

"Well then, I must say that you certainly have contradictory hobbies. Detective, mafia underboss... do you always go around flashing such titles to everyone?" His dark eyes gave nothing away.

My guard flew sky-high. "My mafia was only slightly stupid, give or take the average member with excelled knowledge."

He smirked. "So you, what? Tricked them into doing good? Turned them into pussy cats?"

...huh? Again, I found myself comparing Team Leader Alpha and Rue.

"Contrary to popular belief, we weren't just a gang out to get the world. The President ran it," I retorted, mildly annoyed. Who did he think he was? 007? (Ah, great. Yet more useless- well, then again, James Bond wasn't exactly useless, but still.)

"Fascinating..." he eyed my coolly. "Now, mind translating the mindless babble that just occurred into normal English?"

I stared at him. Either it was just me, or his personality seemed slightly one-sided today. He was probably trying to pull one over me. Karma, it's a bitch.

"You mean Tower B?"

"Sure..." he chuckled. "Let's start with that."

I took a deep breath. "Tower B, I used it on an op once-"

"I didn't mean here."

I looked him dead in the eye. "Huh?"

He glanced around, amusement written all over his face. "Public..?"

Oh. Well, crap.

_KC..._ Trey tsked. _You're loosing your touch..!_

"Right. Guess it'll have to wait until we get back to the hotel..." I muttered, turning and swiftly heading along the predestined route. I had gone a block or so before I realized that Rue had fallen into step beside of me, and finally dropped his L cover. A covert peek to the side, and I noticed that he wasn't glaring at people, nor smirking, nor eyeing everything with that oddly apathetic/amused thing he could do. (I still wondered how he could pull that off.) He looked... oddly content. Hell, maybe even mildly happy.

Okay, color _me_ insane. The guy was confusing as hell and quite frankly, it was annoying me. Just what the heck ran through that head of his?

_I told you a while back that something was up, but you didn't listen,_ Trey reminded, poking me with a leg. _Did your brain turn to cotton?_

_Wait, what?_

_ But I thought you said... wait. Now you've got _me _confused!_

_ Urgh... request change of topic._

_ No kidding... So... what do you make of all of this?_

I sighed. _At this point, all I have to say is that we're getting off too easy. _

For this, Trey had no response.

_I mean, it's great and all that's we're getting closer but..._

_ You don't really know what you're doing? _Trey suggested.

_Any other day, I might have taken that as an insult, thank you very much,_ I could almost feel my blood pressure rising.

_So, what next?_

_ Well, we could probably send another signal, somewhat stronger, but with the intent of complete tracing, but that's unnecessary, since I already know which tower it connects to._

_ ...You're right. This is too easy. It feels like we're walking headlong into a trap._

_ No kidding..._

* * *

><p>Kyona was already at the hotel when we arrived, 'we' being me with my suspicions, Trey with his "helpful" side comments, Rue with his wayward personality.<p>

I emerged from the bathroom, dressed in simple gray attire and loaded with concealed weapons- and blinked at what I saw.

Kyona was splayed out on the bed, wires and other contraptions strewn around her. Rue was hovering in a corner, twirling his dagger and overlooking the scene with a wary eye. An HP Octopus**(1)** was sticking out of the laptop's USB port, all eight legs hooked up to something. Amidst the mess was an odd metallic box; it was plugged into the Octopus, bobby pins and pipe cleaners sticking out of ever corner. The rainbow-colored pipe cleaners wove upwards and connected above the top to a couple of D batteries and a microchip.

"What's all this?" I asked, a little amused, and more than a little baffled.

"We're going to send the _faux_ signal, right?" the girl glanced up for a second. "To find out where the tower's twin is located?"

_Uh oh,_ Trey muttered.

"Uh, Kid..? I already know where Tower B's output is."

Kyona's eyes met mine. "You're kidding."

"Nope."

Her concentration melted into a deadpan expression. "Well, why didn't you tell me sooner? I thought we only- wait... but we only found the ghost tower. I wasn't able to pull up its twin; the reception was too weak for another ricochet."

"...I said back in the basement that I knew where its twin was."

"...Oh. Whoops... I guess I forgot..!" she grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of her neck.

_She is only six._

_ Six, but pretty good._

A thought suddenly hit me.

"Hey, Kyona? I guess you didn't set this up for nothing."

Brilliant amber eyes shot up. "Really?"

I smirked. "I know what else we could use it for."

The kid's hands clasped together in delight. "Awesome!"

Rue raised an eyebrow.

"Kid, I know you're good a pretty good technician. Mind if I give you a little test?"

Her eyes shown. "Seriously? What kind of test?"

I pondered for a moment. "Well, seeing as how we've already discovered L's little secret, how about we pay him a little surprise visit?"

Rue's suave cover promptly exploded into a million pieces as his eyes widened so drastically it was almost comical. For a moment, I thought he was going to fling his knife across the room.

Kyona's gaze faltered. "Wha'ddya mean?"

"Up 'til now, there wasn't even a chance L knew we existed, so I say we make our mark. It's time to stop beating around the bush and find him once and for all." I tapped my forehead. "Using my knowledge of Tower B, I could give you a rough estimate on the area where L's communicating from, despite his round-a-bout methods. It would be within a five hundred yard radius from Tower B's twin, but it still wouldn't be enough. Kid, I need you to hack the twin's reception. Since L would be the only one using the tower, if I were to give you the coordinates of the twin, do you think you could uncover his location?"

Kyona's brow furrowed and she sat there for a moment.

"D-don't you think that's a little... over-the-top..?" Rue asked. I could tell he was trying to reorganize himself, but he wasn't doing the best of jobs.

I smirked. "Of course. It's brash. It's reckless. It's over-the-top. But how else are we going to show him up?"

"I'll do it," Kyona said with a firm nod. "I'll need a few days, but I can do it." Her determination faltered a little. "But what if he's not the only one using the tower? What if there're lots of important people using the tower? What if I get the wrong one and can't tell the difference and I send us to the wrong place?"

I bit my lip.

_You know she's right. This is a bit much to place on her shoulders, _Trey fretted.

If I were in the mafia, I would have said 'they're on my squad, and if they're here, I trust them to know what they're doing!', but this was different.

_...I know, Trey, but... Ugh... I just don't know what I'm doing. This isn't anything like what I've done before. I've had a few similar cases, but nothing like now. Back then, it was hard, it was firm, it was decisive. No doubts, or you were dead. But here, recklessness will get us caught. L isn't someone who uses goons to keep himself at arms' reach, and if he does we've yet to see them. He seems perfectly capable of hiding himself._

_You should help her._

_ I can't believe I'm saying this, but how?_

_ I dunno... you made me. I only know stuff you programmed me to know._

_ I almost palmed my face. Even so, you're right. She's only six. I can't let her handle this all by herself. Rue's no good with this, so... Wait. In this equation, Rue..._

_ Trey prodded me. Rue what?_

_ My eyes narrowed. Rue isn't doing anything, is he? I mean, with Kyona and I working on hacking the tower, what'll he be doing in the meantime?_

_ Scouting out probable L hideouts. Duh._

_ That's too blunt._

_ Moreso than hacking his communications?_

_ Point taken, but even so..._

_ Are you thinking about letting a schizophrenic criminal roam free? Trey questioned._

_ … Gimmie a moment. I'm thinking._

_ Well hurry. Kyona's still waiting._

_ Whoops._

I sent the girl a soft smile. "Sorry. Trey's sidetracking me."

_ Hey!_

"But don't worry, Kid. I'll back you all the way. If you need any help, any supplies or just a hand to fiddle the wires around, I'll be here," I patted her shoulder.

Kyona beamed. "Okey dokey! In that case, I'll start making a list of the things I'll need!"

That kid sure does recover quickly.

I snuck a glance at Rue, who had wandered over to the window with a jar of jam. His back was to us, so I couldn't see his expression, but I could catch a faint glimpse of it in the reflection of the glass.

The man was in deep thought.

"Oh, but Ishi-chan? Just wondering, but what region of Japan is L in?"

* * *

><p>The next three days were spent working, and worrying. Amidst the preparations of the gadgets, I wondered just how exactly we could pull it off. It wasn't as if we could just knock on L's door and ask if we could come in for a cup of tea. What if the detective moved around, just like our little trio? How would we even know if L was working directly to his men? The doubts flooded my head at every waking moment, but I swallowed them and contented myself to assisting Kyona. The kid was a whiz with any and everything electronic- I bet she could give L run for his money- and she often left my own knowledge in the dust.<p>

However, it wasn't until the fourth day that I almost lost it.

Kyona burst into the door of our newest lair and threw a newspaper at my face, yelling, "Ishi-chan! Look!"

I tugged the paper out of the dent in the bridge of my nose and skimmed the headlines. "'Dead dog causes death of ten'?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Not that! Look at the date!" she instructed briskly, eyes wide.

I glanced at the date and almost dropped the paper. "-the heck!"

Rue appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. During the past move, we'd turned the entire kitchen into our laboratory, including the oven and microwave. Hey, don't give me a weird look- if it works it works. "What?" he asked in a monotone.

"Look!" I spluttered, chucking the stack of papers across the room. The schizophrenic caught the newspaper just before it smacked him in the face.

His eyes widened as they fell on the top left corner.

_ "What's going on?" Kyona wailed. "Just yesterday was the 24__th__! How can it be the 17__th__ three months later?" _

_ Holy crap! Trey tumbled from the top of the dresser._

_ "It's probably a misprinting," Rue smirked, lofting the paper back at me. I snagged it with a hand and reread it, just to be sure. "Didn't know you'd get so worked up over something that small."_

"A misprint... yeah... that has to be it..." I breathed, trying to slow my pounding heart. Yeah, just a really big misprint... at least the year is the same... One major time jump is more than enough for me.

Kyona pursed her lips. "O-okay... should I go find another paper?"

"Sure, kiddo," I managed a weak smile and fished some cash from my pocket. "Go by one of every newspaper, 'kay?"

Her face lit up. "Can I get ice cream?"

"I don't see why not."

"Yippie! Thanks!" the girl promptly bolted out the door. I eyed the closed door for a moment before allowing my gaze to skitter across the floor, and finally to the object in my hands.

_KC... you don't think there's a possibility that when we did that weird little time skip thing back to 2007, that we screwed up the overall time line?_

_ ...Maybe. That could be it,_ my eyes narrowed. _But I'm not really one to believe in superstitions._

_ Until you met Beyond._

_ Well, yeah. Now... as much as I hate to admit it, I guess anything's game._

* * *

><p><em><strong>(1)<strong> It's a device that allows you to use eight USB ports at once.  
><em>

_Woohoo! The plot is returning! Slowly, but surely! And yes, the oddball out-of-the-blue time skip _was _relevent to the plot and not just something I made on the spot. I just wrote the last scene- and I'm dog tired. Sorry if it seemed shabby; I'll probably go back at some point and rewrite it._


	16. Final Countdown

_Look who's alive! XD Ohmehgoodness! I am SO SO SO SO SO SO SO sorry! Seriously, there's no excuse. I just dropped off the radar for what, half a year? I even missed this fanfic's anniversary... __ANYWHO- I have returned, hopefully for good, since it's summer for me. I know I've been promising L for the past, what, five chapters now? XD In that case, I'll just zip my lip and let you read 'cuz I ain't sayin' NOTHIN'!_

_ **Guest**- Chapter four, eh? Actually, that's a development this story has yet to reach. For the moment, it's just one of Beyond's many mysterious quirks.  
><strong>Guest 2<strong>- The things in italics are ANs, the times when KC and Trey are talking to one another, and when certain words have emphasis on them. It's also when my computer acts up and puts entire paragraphs in the formatting when I upload them to the site. Since I don't have a beta, these things usually get past me. My apologies if it caused any confusion!  
><em>

_Also, before I let you lovely readers proceed, I must say that this chapter is dedicated to all forty-three subscribers, twenty-nine favorites, and fifty-five reviews (reviewers..?) for the perseverance_ _you all have to keep up with little old me. You've stuck with me through thick and thin, despite my random disappearances, odd authors notes, and haphazard plots. You guys really make my day. This chapter is also dedicated to **Invincible Shadow **for inadvertently guessing one of the themes in this book._

_Sorry, but I didn't take a half-year hiatus to magically purchase the rights to Death Note._

* * *

><p><strong>Final Countdown<strong>

In books, movies, and other works of fiction, I've noticed that occasionally the main character has this odd sense of premonition, whether it be dreams, a gut feeling, or pure knowledge. Why am I babbling about main characters in books? Some small girl bought a fairy tale book written in book Japanese and English in an attempt to learn the language. Around seven in the afternoon, I was asked a simple question regarding main characters and their odd premonitions. Let's just say this: it got me thinking.

If I were in a book, and I were the main character, shouldn't I be having some sort of premonition right about now? I mean, a nice, helpful hint here and there wouldn't hurt, right?

...I guess you can say karma has an _intriguing_ sense of humor.

When I awoke the following morning, gasping and sweating like crazy, I could remember bits and pieces of my dream. A dark building, the smell of freshly-made coffee, a maniacal laugh tinged with power, the bitter taste of iron in my mouth... and the three conscious-es in the back of my mind. I also had this odd feeling of immense nostalgia.

Needless to say, it was freaky.

"Ishi-chan? What's wrong?" Kyona looked up from across the living room.

I bolted upright from the couch, trying to ignore my trembling. For some odd reason, the room felt a few degrees lower than it should be. I glanced around warily, rubbing my arms and trying not to jump out of my skin.

_Calm down, KC. Look around. Remember where you are,_ I told myself.

It was all familiar- the house we were currently staying in. It was an actual house, full-sized rooms and all. We actually had a separate kitchen and dining room. Everything was a deep shade of gray, furniture, walls, carpet- and to be honest, it felt as if I was going colorblind.

"'m fine..." I muttered, making my way across the threshold into the kitchen. The cold silver tiles sent electric shocks up my legs with every step. What was going on with me?

"Someone's jumpy."

I came within a nanosecond of whirling around and planting a fist in Rue's face. Thankfully, all I did was spin around so fast I ended up staggering sideways across the kitchen.

Rue eyed me with an odd expression I couldn't quite place. "Are you drunk?"

Sensible question, but at the moment, I felt a little insulted.

"No." I retorted, barely managing to keep my voice steady.

Cue sarcastic smirk. "Nightmare?"

Oh... why couldn't I have already socked the guy?

"No." I shot him a steely gaze.

_Hey, KC?_

_ What?_ I snapped irritably.

_...What's wrong?_

_ Hell if I know..._

_ You had a nightmare. I can see bits and pieces of it replaying in the back of your mind._

Remember what I said about having no privacy with the collar attached? My upper lip curled in disgust. "I need sugar," I growled aloud and wrenched the refrigerator door open. Empty. Screw my life. Screw emotions.

_Trey, it's the blue pills in my boot that knock people out, right?_

_ I thought it- wait, what?  
><em>

_ Nevermind..._

_ Are you crazy?_

_ ...I feel like I've been drugged._

_ You _act _like you've been drugged. What happened?_

_ You tell me, _I rubbed my forehead vigorously. "Okay, we need food, and I'm... in a really foul mood, so be warned."

The smirk broadened.

Kyona frowned. "Want me to go grab something?"

"Yeah. Thanks, kid."

The girl was gone a moment later.

I took a deep breath and pressed a hand against the wall to steady myself. What was going on with me? Yesterday, the date was-

The date!

_What about the date?_ Trey asked.

_Trey, where's the newspaper stand?_

_ Just down the block. Why?_

_ Can you run down there really quickly and take a peek at the date?_

_ Sure. Gimmie a minute or two._

_ Don't get run over._

_ Don't get your hopes up,_ he replied dryly.

I smiled to myself. At least I still had a sense of humor.

"You're out of character today."

I looked up. "Huh?"

Rue glanced over his shoulder, annoyance written across his features. "Seriously- pay attention. I _said_, 'you're out of character today.'"

I took a deep breath and once again reminded myself that keeping him around would benefit me in the long run. Hopefully.

"Didn't sleep well," I muttered under my breath.

Oh, that's just great. Nice excuse, KC. Smooth.

"..._Right_." Rue smirked. A taunting look flashed in his eyes; the guy had the nerve to try and provoke me!

I set my jaw and ran a few ideas through my head. None of them sounded appropriate, so I went with, "Not in the best of moods."

"...Right."

He was asking for it.

The oh-so-prevalent knife manifested in his hand, its circular twirling slicing intricate patterns in the air.

For the love of-

_Uh, KC..?_

_What is it? _I questioned.

_Just checked the date on the newspaper. It's the eighteenth._

Well, crap.

_Same month?_

_ Still April,_ Trey confirmed.

My thumb found my mouth and I gnawed the nail thoughtfully. _Hurry back._

_ You've got that tone again._

I didn't bother responding. We both knew what he meant.

I was tired of getting pushed around. 'Doormat' wasn't listed anywhere on my resume. Today, the big girl would be taking back her playground.

_...I really have been drugged, haven't I?_

Trey sent me a mental shrug. _Vital signs seems fairly normal, but you never know._

Just great. So my options to date are death by poison, Rue, Kira, or L and his band of mindless followers. Life gives us such wonderful choices.

Clearing my throat, I turned back to my own trio. We really were the most unlikely team. Kyona, the six-year-old (or would she be seven now?) girl with insane strength and knowledge of electronics. Rue, the schizophrenic serial killer with the perfect mask and terrifying personality. Me, KC, experienced detective and underboss of the mafia.

Well, when you put it that way... but you get what I'm saying.

Infinite goals, multiple drives, but here we were, working together. Had I been a more sentimental person, I might have shed a tear or two.

I shook my head. I had to focus. It was now or never.

"Okay, gang. Listen up. Today's the day. We can't waste any more time. The longer we sit here, the more dust our resources collect. If we don't act now, we'll lose L and everything we've worked for," I crossed my arms, leaning back against the wall.

"What's the plan?" chirped Kyona.

"First, we need fuel. Second, Kyona, I need you to relay any and all information you've collected from the MUTT over the past few days. I need to know everything about L, and more. Third, Rue," I turned to face him. "Congratulations, you've just been promoted."

The man raised an eyebrow.

I jerked a thumb at my bag. "Today, I'm teaching you to work the graphire, and tonight... we make our move. It's time to show L who the real geniuses are around here."

Roughly ten minutes later, phase one was complete. I had inhaled an entire six-pack of glorious Mountain Dew, a bag of pixie sticks, four microwavable beef-n-bean burritos, and a pint of soy milk. Rue feasted on his strawberry jam and what resembled an upside-down ice cream cone filled with chocolate icing (and I thought my meal was weird); Kyona stuffed herself with a plateful of sushi. All in all, we were ready to roll.

"Okay, so construction was just completed for this building twenty-seven blocks from us. I did a completely scan of its external structure using satellites stationed all around the planet. It doesn't seem to have any weaknesses, nor does it stand out too much from its surroundings. The only entrance visible is the front door, but the ventilation system on the roof could be accessible, though how, I have no clue. It's too high and far away to jump and rappel to the roof," Kyona reported, pointing to the building on her laptop. The three of us had gathered around to form the initiation.

"Leave the entrances up to me. I'll figure out a way," I growled under my breath, reaching over and spinning the satellite image around with the mouse. "What about layout? Do we have the blue prints?"

"Yeah, but it's obvious that they're not the real ones. Even though the dimensions are right, it just doesn't... I dunno. But it just doesn't look right."

I watched as she pulled up another picture. I could suddenly see what the problem was.

"You're right," I mused. "Whilst the building is secure and not suspicious to the public, that layout isn't exactly efficient for the kind of work it claims to be doing. To the public, it's just an uptight headquarters for a major company with branches in Europe, but if that were the case, why would the walls be so thick? Also, each floor has an odd layout."

"Thirty-three looks like a flat," added Rue, licked jam from his fingers.

"A what?" Kyona shot him a puzzled look.

"English term for a type of house," I answered for him. "But that's not the only one." I pointed to a few other floors with the same model. "It's almost as though a miniature city is built in there. I'm willing to bet a bunch of people could stay in there for years and never have to leave. Perfect if you don't want to show your face to the public."

Rue's eyes narrowed a fraction.

I could almost taste his impatience. He wasn't the only one interested in our future audience with the World's Greatest Detective.

I was pretty sick of being stuck in the past.

* * *

><p>It was around five in the afternoon when The Plan was complete. Rue wasn't happy. Kyona wasn't happy. I wasn't happy. All in all, no one was a happy camper, thus everyone blamed it on me.<p>

_This is suicide!_ Trey barked, settling into his familiar position at the base of my neck.

_Nothing new,_ I growled, struggling to put on the dark suit I had chosen for the occasion.

_You're not coming out of this alive._

I ignored him.

_KC, listen to me. You're going to get yourself killed, and for what! After all of this planning, all of this hard work, _this _is your sorry excuse for a brilliant plan?!_

I took a deep breath. _Trey, in the past few months, I've had parenting/apprenticeship dumped on me, keep an eye open at all times to make sure I'm not about to get stabbed in the back, been electrocuted back in time by a WiiTii, stolen planes and vehicles and God knows what else, dyed my hair, changed my name, kidnapped a member of the FBI, _tortured _him, gotten shot, possibly been drugged, gotten slashed by a schizophrenic murderer whom I broke out of an asylum that I then proceeded to blow up, broken into homes that weren't mine, stalked a member of the Task Force, turned a diamond lighter into a SOS signal that leads directly to L, shredded/bloodied the majority of my clothing, pickpocketed the majority of the Kanto region, and are now breaking into the world's most secure building to tell off the world's best detective and then ask to borrow his intelligence to help send us home. Trey, I'm just tired. I'm so fucking tired I can barely keep my head on straight. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know up from down anymore. All I want right now is to go back to 2038 and shoot the breeze with the President of the United States of America. Is that too much to ask?!_

I wasn't aware of my tears until I noticed my reflection in the mirror.

"Shit..." I muttered, wiping them away with the cuff of my sleeve.

Fucking emotions. I hate them.

_Nervous hands can't aim a gun._

I glanced up at Trey's words.

_You got that from a video game, right? The same game you got the idea for me from, too. Remember what the main character did when her father was shot?_

I snorted. _She set the shooter on fire, but I don't see how that helps._

_ Remember your training. You know how to bring down L's defenses. You've always known. You just have to trust your instincts._

_ I appreciate the offer, but I don't need another Dr. Phil. Rue's enough to handle, thanks._ My hands clasped the edge of the porcelain sink, dark eyes glaring at my reflection.

_ KC, just keep your head until this is done with. Once you're out of the red, then you can break down, but not here, not now. Kyona needs you. If you die, she'll be stuck with Rue. She may be strong, but she's not enough to stop him from going after L. If she gets in his way... she's so small that he might kill her._

My grip tightened, the knuckled slowly turning white.

_Remember why you're doing this, KC. Remember who you are, what you're fighting for._

"But what if I'm tired of being me?" I whispered. _I never asked for this life. I was just thrown into it. Since birth, I've always been pushed around. I have the foster system to thank for that. No parents, no security, nothing. When my mentor took me in, it was the best thing in the world. Then again, it was all I had. I didn't have a choice. I didn't have a choice! _I just barely managed to restrain myself from screaming.

_I never wanted to live like this, Trey! The lies, the deceit! And for what? I never got to live a normal life! The most normal thing I've ever done is attend school, and that was only because my mentor insisted that I learned how to hide my true self from the world without standing out! Everything I've previously done is because I didn't think there was any other way! I've been raised to take whatever I wanted, and to destroy everything that stood in my way! How does that make me any different from Beyond Birthday? Tell me, Trey!_

_ Fucking tell me!_

The loctopus was silent.

I wrenched my hands away from the sink. Moments before, my arms had been straining under the immense pressure. My hands were sure to bruise.

At the moment, all of me hurt. I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed everything, all of the scars, all of the pain, everything. Even my memories hurt.

Who was I? Who was KC? Did Katheryn Carpender really exist, or was she nothing more than a worthless killer?

Name: KC. Alias: Jessica McGee. Hair color: black. Eye color: green. Height: who knew? It had been forever since I had measured myself. Weight: ditto. Profession: mafia underboss. Talents: screwing stuff up, then destroying other stuff to erase the damage with more damage. Purpose: unknown.

Could people really change?

There came a soft rapping upon the bathroom door.

"Ishi-chan? Are you done in there? It's been almost an hour..." came Kyona's- no, _Autumn's_ concerned voice.

I had turned a six-year-old girl into a monster.

"I'm fine," I croaked. "I'm just adding a few finishing touches. I'll be out in a minute."

_KC... _Trey's voice was so soft I almost missed it. _Just listen to me. If you do this, it _will _all be over, but not with a happy ending. Please... just rethink this._

I shook my head. _I don't know what to do anymore._

_ Neither do I. Quite the pair, no?_

Loud, rough laughter echoed around the bathroom. I wasn't even aware it was mine until I started to lose my breath a little ways into it.

_We really are, aren't we?_

Trey sent me a gentle smile. _Don't worry, KC. Just keep your head, okay? They need a leader. They need the old KC just for a little while longer. Only you can help yourself._

"Ishi!"

I leaped a good foot in the air at Kyona's screech.

"What is it?" I called warily. I honestly wasn't in the mood for another of her freak-out spells over her ponytail.

"You need to get out here, right now! There's something on the television!" Her voice waved in a way I hadn't heard in quite a while. My blood ran cold.

"We're recording it, right?"

"Obviously..." Rue's mumble still made it to the bathroom.

"Okay, just give me a bit," I amended, scrubbing my forehead vigorously. I took a deep breath, slowly calming myself. _You know, you're right. Once we get ourselves out of this mess, we won't be able to go back. We'll have to blend in, keep our heads under the radar._

_ There's still time to fix everything._

I smiled. _And you, my little loctopus, have given me just the idea I need._

He frowned. _Do I want to know?_

_ You mentioned what Joanna Dark did to her father's murderer when he was shot. She used the engines of the plane to set the woman on fire. _I picked up the diamond lighter and ran my thumb along its side; its exterior was cold as ice.

"If L wants a party," I smirked, "then let there be fire."

* * *

><p><em>It's been so long since I've even <em>thought _about this story that I actually had to go back and reread it. Lame, huh? What's funny is that after I read it over, I went and looked at the notes I'd made for future chapters, and boy. It may have been six months, but my skills have improved dramatically. What I had planned would have curled your all's hair; it was pretty flat. Thankfully, after seeing everything with a fresh mind, I was able to rewrite the notes in a way that will blow you guys away. Seriously. I can't wait to type it all up!_

_Also, I feel as though I'd better do a little explaining with everything that happened in this chapter. Up until now, KC has been the pillar of human emotions: basically inanimate. She's suppose to have an intelligent mind and the fitness to keep up with it, but looking back at all I'd previously written, she reminded me of a robot. She just went through the motions. I think the most prominent feeling she had throughout the entire book is annoyance, and occasionally mothering and adrenaline-pumped anticipation. She just needed to be more human. I think that her breakdown was perfectly reasonable at this point in the story. Not only does it get us moving along plot wise, but it's kind of the changing point in the story when it really hits us: they're really going to do this, and there is no turning back. There's also a little foreshadowing, if you managed to pick up on that (and I don't just mean the beginning).  
><em>

_As for Beyond, KC really can't get a grip on his character. Without the files to look him up, it's not as though she can study him like she did with her other targets back in the mafia. Since she grew up in an unstable environment, it's not like she had time to practice seeing the hidden motives of a psychopath. To her, he's a challenge pitted against her mind. What's funny is that they're working together to meet L, but one's goal is to kill him and the other's is to ask for help. XD_

_Another question has come to my attention, one that has badgered me since the beginning, actually. "Why don't KC and Autumn just try to figure out what happened by themselves? Why get anyone else involved?" The answer comes in many forms, but is quite simple: even though they might have the drive and the skills, they don't have the resources. They need access to things that they would already have back in their own time. They also need a little pull for themselves. KC may say it's so get another head on the case, but she also wants to use L's resources to figure out what going on. (I've already mapped out why and how this happened, but you, my lovely readers, won't know for a long time!)  
><em>

_With that in mind, questions? Comments? Flames? Constructive critisism? I'll try to get around to answering all of the previously unanswered questions you all have sent to me via PM, reviews, and email when I upload the next chapter. Until then, fair well!  
><em>

_-Kat Storm_


	17. Thrice the Fool Part One

_Apprently, my lovely readers were not to thrilled with my [other] unannounced hiatus_, _nor the seemingly random breakdown of KC in the previous chapter. Well readers, perk up, because I have a feeling some of you are really going to love this chapter! ;D_

**_Invincible_**_** Shadow**:__ Aww, really? You have no idea how much your review brightened my day. I love it when someone catches onto the stuff I throw in my writing! ^^ However, I won't answer your question because anything I would say would give it away~_

**_ChillingShadow: _**_Me too! I still find it kinda sad that I actually had to go back and reread my own writing to understand, especially since the notes I'd written for future chapters honestly didn't make a lick of sense. I'm actually very glad that I took a break from this for so long because it gave me the perspective from your all's point of view on the story. Long story short, it's so much better now.  
><em>

**_Black Dragon Mistress: _**_Thanks! I'm glad to be back too! I spent some time working on my own fictional novels in the meantime; one of them is over a hundred pages now!  
><em>

**_BehindThisFacade15:_**_Will do, and thank you for reading!_

_**/!\IMPORTANT NOTICE/!\  
>There is one part that's written in bold<strong> **a little ways into this chapter. An author's note beforehand will explain why, as telling you now would give too much away.**  
><em>

_ANYWHO~ I must say that this chappie should make up for the previous wait: seveteen pages, and almost ten thousand words. And trust me when I say this: it needed every syllable. Ahem! Anyways, I hope you enjoy the first part of this chapter (it was originally going to be longer, but I realized that I wasn't even halfway done and it was longer than anything I'd written so far X3). Happy reading, everyone!_

_As nice as it would be to own something other than this laptop of mine, I'll have to pass on claiming the rights to something as amazing as Death Note._

* * *

><p><strong>Thrice the Fool<br>~Part One~**

I swiftly finished dressing before pushing my way back out into the main room. (She was actually cleaning up her face. -Trey) Both Kyona- no, _Autumn_ and _Beyond_ were seated on the bed with various expressions. Autumn's eyes were wide as she stared at the television, and BB looked like himself.

Time to put on the big girl britches.

I glanced at the screen, and my mouth hit the floor.

KIRA had been scribbled by hand across the screen in huge Old English letters. A distorted voice was echoing from the speakers.

Someone forgot to invite me to the party.

Snatching up the remote from the covers, I jumped back a few minutes and hit the play button. The television took a moment to buffer (I had forgotten how slow older technology worked) before the DVR started working.

The voice spoke in a certain tone, one that didn't radiate power, yet the speaker clearly knew that they had control over the situation.

"I am Kira."

Oh, carp.

"If this tape was aired exactly at 5:59 p.m. On April 18th, it should be 5:59:38 right now. Thirty-nine seconds... forty... Please change the channel to Taiyou TV. The news anchor will die at exactly 6:00."

I stabbed a few buttons on the remote and the ancient television slowly jumped back to normal time. On the screen in front of me, having collapsed across the desk, was a man I didn't recognize. Abandoning the dawdling DVR, I flicked the channel back to the old one in real time. Luckily for us, Kira must have anticipated for the shock, because there was still a slight pause in the broadcast before he resumed speaking.

"That was punishment for always speaking in cynical terms about me on television. Surely one person is not enough to prove my identity, so I will take another sacrifice. The target is another commentator who always opposes my actions."

Thoughts flashed through my mind and I changed the channel once again, only to find another body limp on set. My thumbnail found my mouth as I changed it back again.

"Please believe me when I say that I am Kira. I do not mean to kill innocent people. I abhor evil and defend justice. The police do not have to be my enemies. They can be my allies. I wish to create a world without crime. If everyone works together to achieve it, it is not difficult to do. As long as no one tries to oppose me, no one else will die."

Except for those you deem unworthy. Bastard.

Have I forgotten to mention that I hate people who think they can pull one over me? Playing God kind of falls under that category.

"Even if you disagree with me, so long as you don't stand against me in public, I will not kill you. Just wait a little while. The world will become a utopia that is otherwise an impossible dream. The world can be full of no one but people with good consciousness. Take a moment and imagine a world where the policemen work with me the eliminate evil. I can achieve a better, crime-free world."

Beyond snorted in contempt.

"Please give an answer as to whether or not the police will cooperate with me to create a new world four days from now on April 22nd. On that same day at 6:10 p.m., I have tapes ready to be aired in response to that answer. As long as the police make an announcement, I will not mind whether or not anyone reveals themselves."

With that, the broadcast shut off to be replaced by a dark screen apologizing for the delay as the studio reset itself, or so it said. I myself took a very deep breath and forced myself to stop chewing on my thumbnail; the last thing I needed was to make myself bleed again. Since my mind's reaction was a little delayed, I jumped back to one of the other news stations, only to learn that Sakura TV had been surrounded by a heavy barricade.

Acting late as always, of course. And you wonder why I don't work with the police.

"There are two Kiras."

I glanced over at Beyond, who was tracing the lid of the jam jar with his dagger. "What makes you say that?" Sure, Kira had been over the top, but I honestly... But now that he mentioned it...

B waved the knife at the television and said in a bored tone, "Kira's not that stupid. Also, he only kills criminals. And last I looked, those reporters weren't accused of any rational crimes." The schizophrenic turned the laptop in my direction. Staring me straight in the face was the commentators' criminal records, or rather lack thereof.

Holy schist.

_To think that you keep questioning yourself on why he's still around,_ Trey poked me.

Another problem was irking me. "Since when were you a hacker?" I raised an eyebrow.

Ah, return of the infamous smirk. "Look who I have for company."

Oh, great. So the schizophrenic serial killer picked it up from _me_. Lovely.

"Mhmm..." I flexed my shoulders. "Okay, guys. We need a new plan of attack."

Beyond rolled his eyes.

"First off, I second your guess, Rue; could very well be another Kira, and the way they operate gives me the idea that they're not necessarily shooting for the same goal, but rather by imitating the first Kira, the second Kira is merely trying to gain his attention. It's almost like the second Kira is just a fan with an edge to getting the attention of their idol." A thought struck me. "Rue, you said that the second Kira isn't as smart. He obviously isn't up to par like the original- those handwritten letters were a dead giveaway- but he was smart enough to disguise his voice. _However_, I'm willing to bet that the voice programming system he used isn't as advanced as L's. If we used the graphire's decoding App, we _might _be able to hear the second Kira's voice and be able to tell how old and what gender the second Kira is."

"You mentioned that you were going to teach Rue to use the graphire. Why not me?" Autumn pouted.

"Sorry, kiddo, but I need eyes in the sky," I rubbed her head gently. Looking up, I addressed the duo in a strong tone. "Here's the new plan. Instead of taking on L head on, I say it's time to get off the sidelines. If this new Kira isn't careful, he'll end up behind bars, but I get the feeling that the three of us are a lot smart than the police force. If the second Kira really is just a fan who's trying to meet his idol, then we have the perfect advantage."

"What?" Autumn's deep brown eyes were wide and innocent. How I'd love to keep her that way, but we had one more crime to commit.

"Gang, today we're going to contact the second Kira."

"And this helps us how..?" Beyond popped the top off the jar and flicked it onto the nightstand.

"The second Kira may not kill in the same pattern as Kira, but it appears as though he still kills in the same style. Once we work out a little information about this new Kira, we can start looking into how they might be able to copy Kira's methods. It leaves me to wonder if the second Kira already had this power and chose not to use it, or if he sought this power after Kira started his little charade."

"The first is highly unlikely," Beyond stirred the jam with the dagger, shifting into his 'L pose.' "It's probable that the second Kira may see himself in debt to Kira for wiping this planet of the filth, possibly because Kira killed someone that did wrong the second Kira in the past."

"So the second Kira would want to contact the first because he feels as though he needs to thank Kira was his work," I caught on. "Thus, it's personal." Not to mention that when feelings are involved, things get a little tricky. "This could mean that the second Kira has more drive than Bob Joe on the streets. Without rhyme or reason, you don't get that extra thrust to succeed. Kira Number 2 will probably do almost anything to get Kira's attention."

"Then if we already know where L currently is, we're going to try to find Kira next?" Autumn pondered aloud.

"That's right," I nodded, grinning. "Even though the building doesn't appear to be in use yet, it might be soon. I figured we'd tackle L first since I believed him to be the hardest to find, but now we can move on to finding Kira. We'll have to move fast, but I think we can do it. If we can lead the second Kira to the first and get them to trust us without killing us, we might be able to lead L to us without announcing our presence."

Annoyance flashed across BB's sights. "L's not stupid either. He'll know that the Kiras will be trying to contact one another. He may even use his influence in the Task Force and pretend to be the first Kira. Since the second Kira isn't as serious about cleansing the world as he is meeting Kira, is likely that he'll spill the beans on his killing abilities more so than the first. If L can gets his hands on the weaker of the two, he'll tear ever last secret from his lips and use that knowledge to capture the real Kira."

"Then we need to get to the second Kira first," I decided. "We'll have to wait a few more days to see if L sends out a counter broadcast, but until then, we'll concentrate our search on this new Kira. Kyona, I need you to monitor L's building. I'd give you Trey, but he won't exactly be open to surveillance missions for a while. Rue, I need you to find us a hotel in a remote location ASAP. For what we're about to do, I don't want anyone walking in on us. Even a raggedy one in the outskirts is fine, just keep us in the Kanto region."

"What are you gonna do?" Autumn cocked her head.

"Me? I'll be doing what I do best," I smirked. "Plotting and scheming."

* * *

><p>Our newest hotel was a little rundown, but it was perfect for what I had in mind. So far, everything was running smoothly. During the next few days, Autumn had managed to log every action of the building into her laptop with surprising accuracy. The girl even managed on six hours of sleep, which for someone her age, is pretty impressive. BB didn't seem too keen on letting L out of his sights, so from time to time, I would catch him tapping away on the keyboard when Autumn would stop to visit the lavatory or sleep. I occasionally sent him down the street for food- I didn't trust this neighborhood enough to let Autumn go alone- or pretty much at all- but despite my anxieties about his loyalty, he always came back. Granted, he might come back an hour or so later than necessary, but still.<p>

As for _moi, _I was back to questioning my sanity, and being questioned.

_You're going to do _what?! Trey squawked.

_I'm going to add a second collar to the mainframe and program it to control you._

_ I get that, but _why?! _Why?!_

I took a deep breath, _Trey, you know as well as me that something like this can't be done alone. Even with Autumn on the nearest roof with a sniper rifle won't be enough protection. I need someone in the field with me, someone who would be able to communicate with me without speaking aloud. It's possible, Trey, and I'm just making it happen._

_ This is almost as insane as walking into L's place and requesting an audience with Kira!_

I winced. _Hey, I was emotional. Give me a break._

_ But still- why, KC? Why? You know what will happen if an outside force controls me, particularly _him.

_Your mind will disappear. I know. I know. You'll still exist, you'll just be asleep._

_ And that makes it okay?_

_ Trey, listen. I just need to do this just this once. If something happens to me, and I lose touch with the others, this will assure that we can still communicate, even if L himself puts me under surveillance. The collar's technology is far more advanced that anything that came out in 2007; it won't even register on anything albeit a metal detector. To anyone else, it's just a fashion accessory that can't come off._

Trey sent me a very human-like sigh. _KC, you know that's not what worries me most. You know what happens to anyone who wears the collar. You won't just be able to hear each other's thoughts; you'll have full access to one another's minds. There won't be a single thing you can hide from him. No thought, no memory, no emotion- nothing. B will get a red carpet welcome into the darkest corners of your mind, and there won't be a thing you can do to stop him._

_ There is, _I grinned. _Remember when we broke him out of the asylum? I had programmed the graphire to say only certain thoughts in my mind, not all of them. I used a certain tag that enabled me to link the graphire directly to the primary frontal lobe structure of the thought process. It could only say what I told it to. It'll be the same with Beyond._

_ ...If you're sure._

_ Trey, if for some reason I get caught, whether it be by L, the police, and either Kira, you'll have a man on the inside. If I can leak information into the outside world, I can give you all a way to not only rescue me, but bring everything down around them. This makes me the perfect spy. You know as good as me that Autumn isn't old enough to see into my mind. If something happens and all of my consciousness gets dumped through the other collar, I need someone on the other side who can handle everything I've done. B's not exactly sane himself, he has killed people before, but his own past will help keep him grounded if he gets flooded. Also, how many people do you know who will be on the lookout for a spider-like mechanism?_

_ So you're saying that Beyond's going to control me while I'm with you, but if you get caught he's to detach himself and investigate from the inside?_

_ That way, we'll not only have me, but he'll be able to sneak into places that I couldn't in a million years._

_ What if he goes after L?_

_ He'll be inexperienced in using the graphire. I mentioned that only certain words can get through? He he breaks conduct, I'm still hooked into the graphire. I can keep a firm hold on him, and maybe even lock him out if I have to._

_ ...KC? Are you really, _really _sure about this..?_

_ Trey, I don't need to lose my head again. This is it. When we find the second Kira and I go to meet him, there will be no turning back, and I know for a fact that I'll need Backup._

Trey smirked. _You and your puns._

Four days after we moved, the "no" tape was released from Sakura TV. Apparently, this second Kira wasn't too pleased with the given response and was threatening police officers all over the world, further confirming Beyond's suspicions that a second killer was involved. The officers were to die, unless the director of ICPO or L himself was to appear for a ten-minute speech on live television to confirm the police force's refusal to work with Kira.

We would have to act quickly.

That was why I pulled Beyond aside that afternoon to run a number of tests with the graphire and take measurements. The man seemed amused by the whole ordeal, but he didn't struggle as much as the time I had tried to cut his hair. (From now on, he did it himself with the dagger. Honestly, he wasn't half bad.) In fact, if I had been someone else, I might have even though that he seemed oddly intrigued by everything.

For the rest of the day, and well into the night, I used my tools (and a few of the horrid appliances) to construct a new collar to fit B. It wasn't as cutting-edge as mine- it would probably be more painful to put on than my own- but it would do the trick. Come six o'clock that evening, everything had been prepared.

Everything except for Beyond Birthday himself.

"Now, the first time you put it on, you'll be in more pain than anything you've ever felt in your entire life," I said the next evening, remembering my first experience. I knew that the pain wasn't exactly something that could be helped, but I had risked spending an extra day to make the first use as 'painless' as possible. For all I knew, it wouldn't do diddly squat. "It'll feel like every inch of you has been living in gasoline your whole life and is suddenly set on fire, and then run through a trash compacter. Your brain will be reeling with one hundred and twenty gigabytes of foreign information and will feel like its being torn apart from the inside. That's just the graphire running a inspection of your mind. You may lose your memory of everything that's happened in the past few hours, or even your own name, but the amnesia is temporary. Any and all memories you have will automatically be uploaded to the graphire whether you like it or not, as well as any thoughts or feelings you might currently possess. Once you put this on, it'll take you at least an hour to regain control of yourself, and when you do, you may feel like you're entire body is being dissolved in acid."

Strangely enough, the man didn't seem too keen on getting his own collar now.

"I won't leave the room, but all I can do is keep you from hurting yourself. Your body will spasm, and you won't be able to do anything about it. I can't help this kind of thing; you'll have to battle that on your own. You may contract a high fever until you regain consciousness, that's why I've filled the tub with ice water. I won't be able to submerge you, if the collar touches the water during your first time, it may kill you. If worse comes to worse, I may have to shut down your nervous system through the graphire just long enough to get the collar off, but there's no guarantee that you'll make it."

I stared B straight in the eye, but the only thing I got out of him was extremely well-controlled nervousness. The guy had never really seemed to have an affinity for electronics (until recently), so I knew this must have been a big jump from knifes and fire. Those things were hard, solid, their results nearly absolute. Technology wasn't always reliable, even to the experienced.

There was a very good chance that he wouldn't see nightfall.

"Let's just get this over with," his gruff voice wavered slightly, but it was so subtle I thought I might have imagined it.

I had him sit on the floor- his legs wouldn't support him for much longer anyways- with his back to the wall. If he collapsed, he wouldn't hit his head on anything from that angle. Once everything was in place, I crouched next to him and fitted the hunk of metal around his neck. The man's pulse was racing beneath my touch.

"Last chance. You want to go through with this?" No many people would have made it this far.

"Do it."

Pulling the screwdriver from my pocket, I stuck it in the slot and clicked the barbs into place. Instantly, Beyond began to tremble. I sprang away from him, locking the bathroom door behind my back. The man's eyes widened and flickered towards me for a moment before rolling up in his head. He slumped against the floor, limp. For a moment, I thought the schizophrenic has simply passed out, but then the convulsions started.

For the next two and half hours, he did nothing but twitch. To his credit, he didn't even scream. For seamless eternity, I waited, occasionally checking for a fever. At one point, he started to cough up blood, but it was only the once.

One hundred and thirty minutes later, everything stopped. My breath hitched as I watched. If his body didn't take to the graphire, I had no idea how I was suppose to break the news to Autumn.

_Ugh... Holy fucking shit. ...That was... gugh..._

The odd accent caused me to leap a foot in the air and it took me a moment to realize that the voice hadn't been heard by my ears.

_Beyond..? _I called warily. _Is that you?_

The man groaned as his arms strained to pull himself up off the floor.

_Who else?_

I honestly wasn't sure how to react. Yay, I didn't have a dead man in my bathroom. Nay, said man and I were now mentally connected.

Or were we?

_Can you hear me?_

NO, _of course not. _The sarcasm was so thick he could have killed someone with it. Yeah, he was fine. _Son of a-_

His arms gave out and Beyond Birthday hit the floor. Loudly.

"Need help?" I asked cautiously.

He mumbled something in response, but a resounding _no _came through my collar, closely followed by a plethora of swearing. In his own mind, B wasn't as controlled as he appeared to be.

I'd have to rub it in his face later.

After a few more pathetic minutes of his attempting to sit up, I shoved his protests down the guy's throat and propped him up between the wall and the bathtub. He glared at me for a few minutes afterwords, mentally calling me every name in the book and swearing enough to put a sailor to shame, but eventually became still as exhaustion caught up with him.

To be honest, all I could really say about anything was that I was a little surprised at how relieved I was. When I had first constructed the graphire all those years ago, I had had no idea of what I was getting myself into. The pain had caused me to scream, throw up, and curl up into a corner in a fetal position. I had never felt anything like that before. When my mind had been examined by the graphire, it felt like the entire universe had been dumped into my brain. Between my hot-wired nerves and overwhelmed cerebral cortex, I had though I was dying. Compared to _my_ first time, Beyond had done infinity better.

I wasn't sure if that said more about _him_ or _me_.

On the other hand, I was freaking out, and probably failing to hide it. By hooking up B to the graphire, we could communicate mentally. I may have reprogrammed the collars to transmit only certain thoughts, but I could already tell that my skills were a little lacking. I could feel hints of emotions that certainly weren't mine or Trey's.

Like the craving for strawberry jam.

If I could feel Beyond's emotions (even bits of pieces), then he could feel mine. What if, the block dissolved enough over time to where we could completely read one another's minds, or share memories? I certainly didn't want a schizophrenic serial killer poking around through my childhood memories, and he probably wouldn't be too happy about his mind gaining a roommate.

_Do you always think like that? _

I jumped a little. Beyond didn't sound too enthused, if not smug.

_Like what? _I bantered.

The smirk I'd come to know only too well curled the corners of his mouth. Under his disheveled head of hair, his forehead glistened with sweat. His dark eyes stared up at me from under his bangs, directly into my soul. _You know._

The sheer power of his look made my blood boil, and also made me want to hide behind the toilet and babble nonsense until next Tuesday. I had seen that face every day for the past few months, but it was until now that I _saw _it. The way his brows quirked when he sized me up, the microscopic lilt his voice took on when he knew he had impressed me again, how he had always managed to seem apathetic and amused at the _exact same time_, the times when he "accidentally" imitated L- the little details that had slipped my mind until I was staring them in the face, literally.

The little details that might have stayed unrecognized had I not received a tiny push from the collar around my neck, the reminder that I was no longer alone in my mind.

A shudder rippled through me from head to toe. I couldn't escape those piercing sepia eyes. Not only would I finally be able to know what was going on in that head of his, but he would be able to see everything in mine. He could see right through me.

...This was one hell of a mistake.

_Bit off a little more than you could chew? _Beyond seemed to taunt me.

I glared at him. I guess I could stop worrying about him. He seemed to have a handle on the basic functions. _You know, you're so-_

The door to the hotel room exploded inwards, only to be slammed shut a nanosecond later. For the nth time that day, I jumped, but whacked my back on the side of the tub. Mumbling curses under my breath and gently massaging my throbbing spine, I scramble to my feet, unlock the door, and hank it open to see Autumn standing in the middle of the room, grinning ear to ear.

"What wrong?" I demanded. Hell, I think I would rather take on Kira himself right here and now as opposed to my personal horror story back in that bathroom.

A wide grin cleaved the girl's face as she spewed, "So I took my laptop with me when I went out and I hacked the hard drive of Sakura TV, and guess what! The first Kira sent a reply to the second!"

Well, give me a banana and call me Charlie.

_How convenient_, mused B, ambling out of the lavatory and rubbing where his collar attached itself to his neck. _That was fast. I wonder if Kira feels insulted by this fan of his._

"Are you sure?" I questioned, ignoring my jam-eating mind-amoeba.

Maybe it was just me, but everything seemed to be happening at light speed. It was almost as if "fishy" had taken a hike and been replaced by a heaping pile of insanity.

Autumn nodded. "They received the tape at 11:00 this morning, as well as lots of other stations, and the police gave it the okay to broadcast! It's being playing in a few minutes!"

Another broadcast? Didn't this guy have a life?

_He's probably some stuck-up kid with too much free time or money on his hands, but I'm willing to bet it's a student since his sense of justice is skewed. Unless you're me, you don't just decide to kill with a fancy pattern and show off your magnificent mind. It's blatantly obvious that this second Kira is a complete pushover, and judging by the way the first broadcast was commenced, I willing to bet that the second Kira is a girl. Males see themselves as independent less a woman is involved which, either way, would still make the Kiras of opposite genders, though it still leaves to reason that the first Kira hasn't a partner to occupy their time, thus using his new "duties" to reassure himself of his own importance. However, it's also probable that Kira grew up like any other kid on the block and is simply trying to stand out with something other than his mind, even if his _is_ using it to evade capture. It still stands to reason that the first Kira is up-to-date on today's technology, at least in comparison to the second Kira. Should the second Kira be using the first simply to deteriorate his reputation, he would try to gradually drag Kira down as slowly but firmly as he could, even if it meant risking capture by the police. The second Kira may also-_

I winced as a wave of thoughts slammed into the inside of my skull. _Beyond! Get a grip! The tsunami just hit Tokyo over here! Tone it down!_

Annoyance (and an abstract thought about apartment complexes) spiked me. _What the hell are you on about?_

_ Well, your thinking is completely erratic for one! Jesus Christ! And you think _my _train of thought is weird! \_

"Ishi-chan..?"

I looked up at Autumn. "What?"

The girl stared up at me with concerned brown eyes. "Are you okay?"

Well, let's see- I have all of my limbs, none of my privacy, a serial killer who insists on drowning me in a ton of haphazard thought processes, a six-(or seven)year-old apprentice who can fire a sniper rifle, and a now-dead conscience who lays (disassembled, no less) atop the pillow on the sorry excuse for a bed. I _must _be having the time of my life!

Aloud, I said, "Sure. What makes you ask?"

"You're doing that thing again. Like when you're talking to Trey?"

Oh.

_Don't point fingers, _Beyond shot me a look as he slunk across the room to his sacred strawberry jam. _I feel like shit._

_ Do you always swear this much in your mind? _I retorted. Putting up with him on a daily basis was enough, but dealing with the bonus features would probably land someone in the doghouse.

_Says the hypocrite,_ he chuckled, seating himself on the foot of the bed. That stupid taunting look was back in his eye. I had half a mind to see whether or not I could physically knock it out.

"Uh... did something happen..?" asked Autumn in a small voice.

I turned to the kid. "Yeah, but don't worry. Rue's just getting use to the collar, that's all."

In his mind, I caught a split-second debate on whether or not Beyond should flip me off. Using an old trick I'd learned when I'd added Trey to the mix, I imagined a door connecting myself and B- and slamming it in his face. To my relief, that muffled that majority of his mental diarrhea.

"So, about that broadcast. It's when again?"

Autumn grabbed the remote and launched herself onto the bed, turning on the television. "Any time now, really!" she chirped.

Through the door, I could feel Beyond's annoyance seeping around the cracks, as well as what I thought was a debate about the percentage of quantum physics involved in rocket science.

This man would be the death of me.

After flipping channels for a few minutes to find the correct station, we were introduced to flashy cursive writing and a strong voice that proclaimed, "_I _am Kira."

"Well, well, well." _Look who's late to the party..._ Beyond chuckled. For a moment, I was distracted by how well he edited out his own speech.

"The person who sent in those tapes a few days ago is nothing more than an impersonator. First, I have some words for the impersonator. If you are on my side and wish to become my spokesperson, I will forgive your initiation. However, killing innocent people to cover your tracks is unacceptable. Such actions will only create panic and destroy my reputation. If you are truly on my side and wish to help me, then do not act so brashly. If you do not heed my warning, I will punish you without hesitation."

The situation reminded me of watching two kids on a playground. One takes the toy, and the other tells him off but forgives him with only a warning.

The broadcast continued about Kira's plan to cleanse the world, with the second Kira helping, though only if he was to accept the short leash he would be put on.

How clever, Kira.

_Your respect for him is growing, _noted Beyond.

I shot him a sidelong glance. _How did you-_

_ Override that blockade you set up? Interesting that you chose a door, but that door means nothing if you don't lock it. I merely figured out how to turn the knob, so to speak. _He smirked. _It was quite simple to figure out. Once you operate a machine from the inside, there's no need for such frivolities like programming skills. You are the hard drive._

Fantastic! So now he could operate _my _machine with the greatest of ease, and on the first day no less.

_Why haven't you passed out already? _I shot towards him. _Working this thing really takes a toll, especially if you're not use to it._

He shrugged. _It's not so bad. You're supporting half of the system._

My eyes narrowed. _Your thoughts aren't as crazy as before. Don't tell me you've actually figured out the code to the filter._

He flashed me an unholy grin over his shoulder as he stood and slipped out of the hotel room.

I stand by what I said before: that man will be the death of me.

* * *

><p>We hopped hotels (again; I seriously think the pattern's been engraved into our minds), and this time closer to the construction of L's building. Between Mr. Beyond Birthday driving me up the walls 247, and extensive research sapping the remainder of my patience, when it came to trying to uncover this second Kira, I was ready to pull out my own hair. Or maybe B's. I wasn't sure yet.

By the time the second Kira's broadcast came two days after the real Kira's, I was ready to throw a freaking party.

"Kira-san! Thanks for replying!" chirped the filtered voice. It reminded me of what Beyond's scrambled thoughts had relayed: the second Kira might be a girl. If the graphire didn't confirm it by the end of the day, I would probably go with that assumption; Beyond hadn't been wrong so far. "I will do everything Kira-san said. I want to meet Kira-san. I don't think Kira-san has the eyes, but don't worry! I won't kill Kira-san, no matter what! Please think of a way to meet without getting caught by the police. When we meet, we can confirm each other identities with our God of Death." With that, the transmission ended.

The eyes... God of Death... I glanced towards Beyond. He had the eyes of a shinigami. Could that be what the second Kira was referring to? In the back of my mind, I felt the man thoughts whirling around like a hurricane, though his face didn't betray him.

Dang. You have to admire the guy's self-control.

"Rue, what all do you know about Gods of Death, anyways?" I asked, deciding to poke the bear with a stick. Hey, if I drew back a nub, it would be my own fault.

"Not much," he admitted in a thoughtful undertone. _All I really understand is that I can see people's names and life expectancies above their heads. It's possible that Gods of Death come to earth and kill for humans, but I wouldn't push it. Besides, if the second Kira has the eyes, is it because they were born with them like me? Would that be why the shinigami approached her?_

_ So you already refer to the second Kira as a her._

He shot me a look. _Don't peak through the keyhole. It's not polite._

I had to bite back a laugh. Even though I could see right into his mind, he was still a piece of work from any angle.

I mentally rapped my knuckles on the door, to which the man sent me a deadpan look. Shrugging, I went ahead and pushed it open.

_As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted_, he shot me a pointed look. _If the second Kira _was _approached because she had the eyes the why would a God of Death turn to the first? Because he seems more intelligent about how he carries himself, or his reasoning to __kill. I must admit that his pattern is inspiring, however the fact still remains that if shinigamis _have _come to earth, it may seem as though the only ones who might know and understand their motives would be the two Kiras. In which case, the first Kira may be able to kill using a face to picture and a name to assign, but if they had the eyes, all they would need is a face._

_ Which is how the second Kira kills, _I jumped in, proud that I was able to keep up with his train of thought.

_So the two would find a place to meet using that code and confirm their identities via Gods of Death, and prove that they were in league by having their shinigamis kill for them._

_ Do you think you would be able to see the lifespan and name of a God of Death? _I pondered curiously.

_I can only see human's, so probably not_, he shrugged, munching on stir fry. (Yes, the man actually _does_ eat something other than strawberry jam. He's kind of like me with sugary stuff: he prefers it, but he still needs other nutrients.)

_What about those in league with a shinigami?_

_ I suppose we'll have to wait and see... _he replied listlessly.

"So... I'm gonna break this awkward silence to ask: can I go get some ice cream?"

I glanced over to Autumn, having completely forgotten she was there, as well as her inability to hear us as well. God, that would be a nightmare. "Sure, Kyona-chan. Just remember to pocket the change when you're done."

"Sure thing!" she shot me a huge thumbs up before disappearing through the door.

Ah, the joys of having a an expert pickpocket as an apprentice.

* * *

><p>The graphire did confirm the second Kira's identity as being a younger adult female of Japanese nationality. It was also able to narrow down her approximate location based off of the style of Japanese she spoke... to <em>all of Japan<em>. Helpful, no?

The following weeks were spent analyzing our data from every angle, but the only lead we had to go on was this odd scheme Beyond had concocted in the back of his mind, though he never voiced it aloud. His idea was that if a shinigami really did come to earth, it was a god after all and would probably need something that would bind it to the "lesser beings" of the planet. He doubted that the all-powerful god would kill whoever whenever asked, so there might have been some sort of bind that would tether the shinigami to the human who ordered it around. On the other hand, he doubted that a god of death would just roll over and accept orders from a human at the drop of a hat. He thought that there was something we were missing that would be freakishly obvious to the two Kiras.

Something that bound the human and shinigami together?

Our odd trio caught its next break when Autumn tagged a page from a diary sent from the Second Kira before it aired. I scanned it contents on the graphire, printing out a copy on dissoluble paper, though my eyes were looking over the entry scrawled in at the very bottom.

30Th: saw god of death at the Giants game at Tokyo Dome.

I perched precariously on the railings of our newest hotel, scanning the rough printout with a raptors eye. We didn't know much about the two Kiras, and what we _did_ know wasn't exactly enough to go on.

The original Kira was bilingual and smarter than the second. I mean, the second Kira actually wrote "god of death," _and _the place _and _the date in this diary entry. Despite the fact that the diary entries were labeled to be from the previous year, the graphire confirmed that the paper materials of the original hadn't been produced until this spring, which would mean that everything on the page was made up. Was the second Kira _trying _to get himself caught?

_She's smarter than she appears._

I jumped, almost falling ten stories onto the hard concrete below but I caught myself just in time, and shot a look over my shoulder. My mind-amoeba slid the door to the room shut behind him before sliding into the el-cheapo plastic chair on the other side of the balcony. He really needed to stop sneaking up on me, especially now that he seemed to have a leg up.

"Look at the paper again," he instructed, his dark eyes fixed on mine.

I took a deep breath. "I've been staring at this thing all day. Your turn." I pried myself from the bars of the railing and crouched against the opposite wall, leaning back slightly until I could feel the coolness of the cement seeping through my textiles.

The balcony was small enough for the schizophrenic to lean over and tap two of the lines with a long pale finger. "Check those two again."

I raised an eyebrow but did as I was told, much to my own surprise. "22nd: met with a friend in Aoyama and exchanged notes. 26Th: went shopping with friends and bought some summer clothing."

"If today's the twelfth of May, and this so called 'diary page' is also from May, it's safe to assume that the second Kira is planning to use these two dates to try to meet up with Kira, and simply using "gods of death" on the thirtieth to distract the police. There's also the probability that the second Kira really is that stupid to try to meet Kira on the thirtieth." _She could also just be floundering in the dark. She sounds young, despite knowing such intricate words, though the diary alludes to a young age, though she may, once again, be trying to divert the attention from her true self using a plausible persona,_ B mused.

"We might as well scout out the places on those dates. The police may call off the Giants' game on the thirtieth, but it's not like they can filter all of Aoyama or every mall for a full day."

"The Kiras most likely won't be caught by a simple inspection. Ever since the two first began to contact each other through the media, the killings' pattern hasn't changed drastically."

"It's almost as if they've already met up," came a voice from my left.

Somehow, I managed to not give a jolt as Autumn flopped down in the remaining chair. "I don't really get all of what you're saying, but what if these Kiras use their gods of death to communicate with one another? What if they've already met and are leading the police on? That is possible, right?" she cocked her head, glancing between the two of us.

I shrugged. "Maybe."

_If the second Kira has the eyes, and the original Kira has more intelligence, it's almost as if both Kiras still require a face _and _a name to kill, _Beyond's eyes focused on a point off in the distance, though his eyes were almost unseeing._ If you have the eyes, you can see a person's name and lifespan..._

_ Ordinary people can't see one another's lifespan, _I added. _So that's more than likely not relevant to their killing pattern._

Autumn tugged the paper from my hand and stared down at it for a moment. "I mean, what if the Kiras are using all of this to get the police as far away from them on days as they can? Like a diversion?"

_It's not at though the Kiras would have to be good artists to kill, but it's not as though shinigamis can read humans' minds. They could, but what if Kira told his god of death to kill someone, but someone else who was closer had the same name? How would the shinigami be able to tell which person to kill? Without a face, how would one know? Would the Kiras really have to sketch out every person they wanted dead? _I pondered, bouncing my ideas off of B. Over the past few weeks, I pretty much gave up on trying to hide my thoughts on the Kira case from him, especially since he'd find a way to figure them out anyways. _What if Autumn's right, and the gods of death really are just used for communication? It's not as though we see death gods just walking the streets of Japan, they might be invisible, so it wouldn't matter whether or not the police canceled the game; they would still be able to meet._

_ Hmm... _For the first time in a long time, it was almost as if B had finally managed to seal himself off from me completely. It was a little surprising, but more of a relief than anything.

Seriously. _You _try harboring a schizophrenic in your mind for a few weeks and see how _you _like it.

I ran our crazy ideas by Autumn, and somehow the three of us came up with a "simple" solution: were were going to go to Aoyama on the twenty-second and try to meet up with the Kiras.

What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

><p>Somehow, my mind-amoeba hadn't forgotten our previous covers, so when we left the hotel on May 22nd, we were once again the wayward little family. This time around, I shuffled our story a bit before taking the extra precaution of adding our "personal information" into the system. I was Ishi Satou (since Ryuzaki would probably stand out to L), sister to Rue, with my daughter, Kyona. My husband was on holiday in France, and Rue's girlfriend was being a pain in the ass and had kicked him out of their house up north. Being his good little sister, I had let my poor, homeless sibling stay with me until he got up the courage to beg to be let be into his house.<p>

Long story short, "Rue" wasn't exactly thrilled with his new identity. I thought it was excellent payback for annoying the schist out of me until I had finally managed to reconstruct the graphire's filter.

"So, what are we doing again?" Autumn mumbled in my ear as we boarded the bus.

"Since B has the eyes, there's a slight chance that he might be able to see these death gods. Through him, we might be able to meet one, if not both, Kira(s)," I whispered back. "But to everyone else, we're showing my 'brother' around his old neighborhood."

The girl giggled when I poked her in the stomach lightly. "Okie dokie!"

As the ride went on, I shot BB a sidelong glance. Since I'd fixed the filter, it had seemed oddly empty in my mind; he usually said what he wanted to to know, rather than run it by me. In other words, he wasn't saying anything, and Lord knows the boy's facial expressions (or lack thereof) wasn't any help. The silence in my mind was... unnerving.

Great. So now I've become dependent on that little voice in the back of my head- which is a serial killer. Lovely. Karma and I must be best buddies by now!

By the time we got off of the bus ride, I had everything layed out in my mind.

_Okay, keep your eyes peeled and when you decide to talk, don't say much and don't say __it loudly. It's fine to seem nostalgic, but not like you're sizing up the city._

The man's eyes flickered to mine. _Yes, mother._

I shut my mental door to avoid 'accidentally' calling him a-

"Momma? Can we go to Note Blue? I really like their ice cream."

I looked down at the innocent Lolita girl at my side. Gone was the professional sniper who could bench-press a hundred. Instead, the six(seven?)-year-old angel stared up at me with large brown eyes and a cute smile. Her dyed hair has been left down, albeit a few strands of her bangs that were pulled back from her face and tied off with a petite bow. A golden sundress with copper accents hung around her small frame and brass-colored flats adorned her delicate feet.

She really did look like a normal girl.

I smiled softly and purred, "Of course, sweetie. How about you go save us a seat when we get in?"

"Yeah!" she chirped, beaming and grabbing my hand.

At that exact moment, Beyond stiffened at my side.

_What is it? _I asked, still smiling on the outside as Autumn drug me down the street, skipping and humming the entire time.

_The Note Blue... _

I blinked as a sudden picture was shoved into my mind. For a moment, I though I'd been hit by a car.

_(AN: The following lines as well as a further on in this chapter, there are bits and pieces written in bold formatting. This is symbolizing KC looking though the collars into Beyond's mind in the present moment. In other words, she sees what he see, though she doesn't hear what he's thinking.)_** All around me, everywhere I looked, the sky was filled with a plethora of names of numbers. An odd reddish tint was given off by the symbolic clouds, leaving shadows upon the people under them. When someone turned away, the name and number above them flickered out of sight, but when a person rounded the corner to face us, the two lines formed from dark scarlet smoke that seemed to pour out of the person's eyes like vaporizing blood.**

I was seeing the world through Beyond's eyes.

_Look at the girl through the window of Note Blue, the one with short black hair and glasses._

**I took another moment to absorb this new sight before peering through the glass. There was a girl sitting at a table, facing the window, with a soft smile. She wore a dark jacket that honestly looked like a school uniform, a bag draped over the back of her chair. She sat with her chin propped on her hands, elbows resting on the table, her eyes glazed over, though intently staring at something off in the distance. She almost looked as though she was overlooking something that she was proud of, but that wasn't what drew attention to her.**

**The girl didn't have a lifespan.**

_I've never seen a person before who didn't have a lifespan, _Beyond murmured.

_Do you think she's Kira?_

In the back of my mind, I saw Beyond follow her line of sight to a group of older teenage boys walking down the street, laughing. I felt my blood run cold as my (Beyond's?) eyes fell on a familiar face, also without a lifespan.

Light Yagami, the police chief's son.

My eyes widened. _Didn't they just run an investigation of the Kitamura and Yagami families? Wasn't Light suspected of being Kira?_

_ Only because you left evidence on their computers of gaining files only accessible to those directly associated with the Kira case, _B pointed out.

Realization dawned on me as a plan began to formulate in my mind. The girl's name in the Note Blue was Misa Amane. Using the graphire, I ran a quick search and came up a bazillion hits. This girl was an actress, model _and _a singer, and pretty popular in all of her works at that. That would certainly explain why she would go all-out to hide her identity if she was one of the Kiras. But if _Light Yagami _was the other Kira...

_Hey, B? How much you wanna bet that we can sucker her into believing that there's a third Kira?_

A hint of a smirk quirked the corners of his mouth.

Somehow, during all of this, we hadn't stopped walking, or skipping in Autumn's case. Despite my mini revelation, the world did keep turning. On the other hand, I didn't know why the identities of the Kiras surprised me.

_Do you think she's seen us yet? _I questioned.

_Her eyes are still on Light. Even with the eyes, it's still a wonder she can spot him in this crowd... _he muttered.

_I'm going to send Autumn down the road as though she's never seen us in our life. I don't exactly want her getting in the middle of all of this. We don't know which Kira Misa is, but I don't want to risk the kid's life unnecessarily. Besides, if she does have the eyes, she'll probably be a little more concerned with the whole 'Beyond Birthday' thing, but I'd rather not risk it._

My "brother" shot me a sideways glance but didn't press it.

"Hey, sweetie. Change of plans. I just remembered that my cousin- you remember Aunt Midori, don't you?- is waiting for you back at the house. She brought Fuyumi-chan this time," I added in a playful tone.

Again, whoever taught this kid, I'd love to meet him/her. "Fuyumi-chan?" Autumn's eyes lit up. "Ooh! Can we go back now? Please~"

"You can go ahead of you hurry. Just remember: don't talk to strangers. And have Midori-san order some food okay? It'll be a while before I finish showing Rue-kun around. He hasn't been here in years, remember?"

"Uh huh! See you back home!" Autumn gave me a quick hug, and a concerned glance, before scampering off into the crowd.

Good. That was one thing I shouldn't have to worry about.

_Alright, let's get this show on the road. Beyond, go pull your Mr. Dark and Mysterious act on Misa while I get us some drinks. See if you can get her to follow us to someplace more private; I don't think we should just run our mouths nonstop in public when the police are bound to be on the lookout for the Kiras all over Aoyama_, I instructed briskly, slipping inside the small cafe ahead of B.

The man smirked. _'Mr. Dark and Mysterious'?_

_ You know, how you usually act._

_ So I'm dark and mysterious now._

I glared at him out of the corner of my eye and bit my tongue. Anything else I said to him would get twisted around as well.

Like I needed him to get any more infuriating.

My jaw firmly set, I stalked away from the schizophrenic, up to the counter, and ordered an iced tea, three skewers of chocolate-covered _dango wagashi_, and a suicide. I waited for my order to be prepared, I took a seat at the bar and closed my eyes, calmly knocking on the mental door connecting my brain to Beyond's, which swung open with ease.

**The man walked over to the table and slid into the chair opposite Misa. The girl looked up in surprise, though didn't make a move to bolt.**

** "Hello, Misa Amane," said Beyond in an undertone. "Tell me, your **_**eyes**_** really are beautiful for someone like you. Have they always been like that?"**

Damn. Forward much?

**The girl gasped and glanced over her shoulder, but not as though she were checking the area. It was almost as it she was looking for support from another person... another person who wasn't there.**

** "Another?" she whispered excitedly, leaning across the table.**

** "I'm afraid our dear friend couldn't make it in time, so I came instead," he reclined in his chair, offering a coy smile. "I hope you don't mind a little company today, Misa-san."**

** "Of course not!" Misa's face broke into a broad grin as she clapped her hands together. "Misa loves people!"**

** "So two wouldn't be a crowd?"**

** "Not at all!"**

And there was my cue. Grabbing my order as soon as it was set down and tossing a few yen to the cashier, I made my way across Note Blue to slide into the chair next to Beyond. Misa glanced above my head, but I spoke before she could ask.

"At least my name's somewhat normal, eh?" I grinned, pulling the food out of the bag. "You like _dango_, Misa-chan?"

"Oh, yes, Kath-"

"Please call me Ishi, and this is my brother, Rue Satou," I interrupted smoothly, passing the suicide over to Beyond before sipping my own drink. "You're among friends here, Misa-chan. There's no real need for formalities."

Misa nodded, her eyes shining. I gave her one of the _dango _sticks before continueing.

"We should probably be heading home, wouldn't you say? We have so much to catch up on and it feels a little crowded in here," I popped one of the _dangos_ in my mouth before standing.

"Sure! Where should we go?" she asked, following suit and draping her bag over one shoulder.

I swiftly used the graphire to reserve a hotel room just outside of Aoyama using the credit card I'd swiped from someone on the way over. This early on, they probably wouldn't even realize that it was missing.

"We're staying at a hotel in the outskirts of Kamido not far from here. It's just for the night, but I think it'll work for our little arrangement." Beyond and I exchanged a friendly look, though in his mind, I could begin to feel his inner turmoil seeping through.

"Perfect!" Misa clapped her hands together. "I can't wait to hear all about-"

"Let's hurry before room service wonders where we are," I joked, pushing my chair in. Nodding, the model followed without hesitation.

_That's the second time you've willing sat down today, and now you're letting her in close as soon as you meet her? _I could feel Beyond's eyes on me as I opened the door to Note Blue.

_Are you suggesting I've lost my game? _I shot back automatically before I could stop myself, then mentally palmed my forehead.

Remember that lovely thing called self control? Apparently, I have none.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the smirk that would forever haunt me in my dreams. _Merely stating the obvious, Katherine Carpender._

Oh, why couldn't I have shot him already?

* * *

><p><em>Geeeeee! You all seriously have no idea how long I've been wanting to give B his own collar~ Not only for the sake of the plot, but for the laughs as well. Now, I'll try to answer as many questions as I can, I know how inquisitive you all can be ;), so I'll do my best to cover everything as asked by that little voice in the back of my head and my post-beta. (No, really, I have someone who readsedits my work, but after I've edited and posted it up here. There _were_ going to be my beta, but I'm pretty impatient when it comes to getting my stuff out, plus our schedules don't exactly coordinate.__)  
><em>

_First off, KC doesn't trust people easily. This we know. Autumn more or less is trustworthy in KC's eyes because Autumn's a kid _and _she seems fairly reliable up to this point in time; she hasn't done anything rash. Thus, KC trusts her innocence (or is that just a facade..? :3) When it comes to Beyond Birthday, she seems him for what is: a serial killer. However, my take on BB is that after he lost to L, his blood lust and desire to watch the world burn slowly began to fade away as he realized that he had truly lost. When KC came to question him, it was almost as though part of his old self was reawakened, reminding him of what he had been striving to achieve. Seeing Autumn and KC in action, it kind of dawned on him that he might actually have a chance to pull one over L, thus giving him motive. Regardless of his imprisonment, his intelligence never faded, nor a few of his skills (though his hand-to-hand combat was a little rusty, but who wouldn't be after wearing a straightjacket for that long?)  
>Basically, KC wouldn't trust someone like him ordinarily. It's been portrayed many times throughout the book that KC trusts Autumn a little more than Beyond because of what he use to dobe. They can relate to each other more than they realize, but isn't not like they're going to have a sleepover and pour their hearts out to one another. There needed to be something to bring the two together and pretty much force them to trust one another. Now, there's the threat that BB is so smart that he might find a way to override the filter and see directly into KC's mind; when you're worked in the mafia for as long as she has, that's _really _not a good thing. Also, if KC trusts Beyond, then Autumn will follow suit. She _is_ a child after all._

_You know, on these notes I left, it said that the collar thing was suppose to happen in the last chapter and that L was suppose to appear in this one. XD Great planning skills, me. (Feel free to laugh in reviews! I had a few good chuckles myself, especially over what I had coming for you all later on.)_


	18. Thrice the Fool Part Two

_Woohoo! I managed to update two of my stories today, this being one of them! Alrighty, I'm pretty happy about getting this chapter in here, and I hope that you all will enjoy it! (I won't say why, but I have a feeling many of you will scream, "WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME!" about a certain part~)_

_I own nothing albeit the products of my insanity._

* * *

><p><strong>Thrice the Fool<br>~Part Two~**

"So... you're not Kira-san?" Misa asked as I tossed the remains of my takeout cup in the trash. Of course, I had to incinerate it first- the last thing I needed was for someone to get ahold of my DNA or fingerprints. Surprisingly, my odd behavior didn't seem to affect the supermodel.

"No, but Rue and I have been searching for him for as long as he first appeared," I shot Beyond a glance, though mentally telling him to hold his tongue. BSing my way through things was my specialty. "Our mother was a complete nut job; she tried to kill us a few times when we little. I mean, who in their right mind would give a kid a name like his?" I jerked a thumb at my "brother," who didn't seem all too amused at my crack. "Dad couldn't take it and divorced her before we were in high school, but by then, she was in jail for more crimes than her age number. On the night of my wedding, she was on parole..."

I bit my lip, as though too pained to go on, but I didn't have to open my mouth for the next bit.

"Mom brought a sawed-off shotgun and a friend of her jailmates to the reception. They tried to slaughter everyone as soon as Ishi and Yuki, her husband, signed the papers. The police just barely managed to get there in time, but not after they set the church on fire. These scars aren't just for show," Beyond rumbled, holding up his hands. "In the end, half of the guests died, including our father. Ishi moved to the far side of Japan, and I went up north to live with my girlfriend. A few years down the road, I received a call from the jail that held mom and her... _companions._ They had all died in a single day. Heart attack."

Holy mother of... How did he know what I was..?

Oh. Graphire. I forgot about that...

_Your turn, _B's voice was almost taunting.

Regardless, I didn't say a word as our story sank into Misa. The girl was silent for the longest time before whispering, "So... where are your partners now?"

"Yuki's in France right now. He's a pilot for an international airline that flies all over Eurasia. Makes good money, too. Oh, and Rue got kicked out of his house. His girlfriend wasn't too happy when she learned that Kira has killed his mother; she thought that she might be next, even though Rue hadn't done anything wrong," I explained in a soft tone, as though still haunted by the ghosts of the past.

"Oh... Misa's so sorry." The model crossed her legs, biting her lips.

I smiled gently. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to find you Kiras without his eyes. You have no idea how much we've been wanting to meet you. You see, I don't know which one of you it was who did it, but... we just wanted to thank you _so much _for finally getting us out of our mother's shadow. I know that dad would have been so relieved that he wouldn't have to worry about us any more, and that he would approve of the peace you're striving to bring into this world."

"That was actually all Light's idea, really! He's amazing! Who knew that Kira-san would be such a handsome man?" she giggled. "But he looks way too serious!"

"So you're the second Kira?" I cocked my head.

"Yup! Misa's been dying to meet him ever since he avenged her parents' death. They were killed during a robbery, and the robbers got away scott-free."

"And then Kira-dono came along with his mighty hand to punish the wicked of this world," I added with a sigh, allowing the smallest of smiles to grace my face.

_What the hell are you doing? _BB asked in a deadpan tone.

_Playing the fangirl. And I'd probably better get this over with: congratulations, you were right. The second Kira was just trying to meet Kira to express her gratitude- and yeah, she's a girl. _'And if you decide to rub it in, so help me I will send ten thousand volts through your veins,' was what I really wanted to tag on the end, but I got the feeling he heard me anyways. _Just play along. It could save your life._

"We're using fake names so if the police know that someone's trying to meet Kira, they'll have a harder time finding us," explained Beyond Birthday in an undertone. "I'd suggest the same for you, but with your acting job, it would be hard. By the way, nice idea with the wig and such today. We didn't think of that."

"Thanks!" Misa chirped.

"Although, I have to say Misa-chan, you've gotten a pretty good idea going, but I have to ask: do you know how Kira kills from a distance? I mean, we know he doesn't have the eyes, so what's he using?" I wondered aloud.

"We use this!" Misa reached into her bag and withdrew a black notebook with white symbols printed across the top.

I could feel my own wariness mingling with Beyond's as the man's eyes fell on the book; a cold tingling sensation tickled down his back. Furthermore, I was seriously creeped out by my ability to feel it. It was almost as if he was too distracted to remain on the other side of the filter. In other words, this had to be something apocalyptic.

"What is it? Can I..?" I extended a hand.

"It's Misa's Death Note! Misa writes the name of someone she want to die, pictures their face, and if she doesn't specify the nature of their death, they die of a heart attack in forty seconds," she placed the black book in my hand, and a flash of moment behind her caught my eye. My gaze shot up, my body tensing, readying itself for attack, but only to catapult me backwards across the room. My pistol was in my hand before another word came from my mouth.

The creature was grotesque and humanoid, if you ignored its wayward skeletal appearance. All of its body- if you could even call it that- was an off-white color. The thing had human-like hair that darkened into a shade of lavender that matched the markings that framed its jawbone and violet lips. It wore bandages under its bangs, covering the eye that wasn't yellow, its pupil slitted like a cat's. Large golden bangles hung out from under its hair, but its long arms- structured similar to a cat's spine- seemed far more threatening at the moment.

Upon seeing my gun, Misa gasped and froze, eyes wide, as she stared at the barrel aimed just over her shoulder. "Ishi-san..? Wha-"

"Misa, don't move," I ordered in a raspy voice. "I want you to-"

"I have no intentions of harming Misa," said the thing in a gruff tone, though feminine.

"What _are_ you?" I breathed, giving the thing another look. It might have been... no. It couldn't be...

I was too shocked to keep Beyond from shoving his way into my mind. The man took one look through my eyes before saying, "Shinigami."

The creature- was this a real god of death?- gave the serial killer a hard look. "You can see me without touching the Death Note?"

"No, but I can sense you," he replied listlessly. How the hell was he able to lie so easily when faced with _that?_

I did as best I could to hand the notebook to B without dropping it, but with my trembling hands, it was more than difficult. To be honest, I really hoped I wouldn't have to shoot; there was no way I could hit the broad side of a barn like this. The man blinked a few times before smiling at the death god.

"Oh, yeah, this is Rem! She's the one who gave Misa that Death Note!" Misa said, still not moving.

"So she's suppose to be here?" I wasn't exactly willing to drop my weapon just yet.

The model nodded.

With a deep breath, I forced my hands down and shoved the gun back in its holster. My eyes gave the shinigami another once-over before muttering, "Hi."

_And you say _I'm _the least loquacious, _B sent me a mental smirk before continuing, "To be honest, my sister and I weren't sure whether or not real gods of death were involved. We thought it was just a code word used between the two Kiras."

"Nope! A shinigami needs to have two Death Notes before they can drop one to earth. This one's Misa's since another death gods died to save her, so Rem gave it to her since she thought he'd want Misa to have it," Misa looked up at Rem.

_Damn, you'd think she'd be a little more conservative. Is she telling us all of this to throw us off, or do you think she's for real?_

_At this point, it's hard to say, _Beyond pondered.

_C'mon, you're the conspiracy theorist! You've got to have a trick up your sleeve!_

_Mr. Dark and Mysterious Conspiracy Theorist?_

_Oh, just- shut the fuck up._

I rubbed my forehead with my hand. "So... the only way to get a Death Note is for a shinigami to give you their extra? And how the heck did one die saving you?"

"Yup, but Misa's keeping that little secret for Kira-san specially!" she winked. "Misa doesn't think he knows!"

"What do you know about Light Yagami?" asked BB, sliding back into the verbal conversation.

"Nothing yet, but Misa was planning on looking him up when she went home," admitted the model.

I smirked. "In that case, how about we team up? Rue and I know quite a bit about the police chief's son."

Her eyes widened. "Light-san's the son of Chief Yagami?"

I nodded. "So, whadda you saying, Misa-chan? Between your Death Note, Rem, yours and my brother's eyes, and my initiative, I say we'd have an excellent team to meet up with Kira."

The girl's eyes lit up. "Sure! What do you think, Rem?"

The shinigami was quiet for a moment before saying, "They seem to be able to fill in the blanks we have, and vise versa."

"Yay! Then let's team up!" the model sprang forward and clasped my hands in her own. "Let's meet Light Yagami!"

I forced my most convincing grin onto my face, just as Misa grabbed Beyond in a large hug, almost knocking the larger man off his feet. The blind shock that shot through his veins was rather refreshing.

That smile of mine wasn't forced anymore. (But it might have been more of a smirk.)

Needless to say, my mind-amoeba wasn't too thrilled with either of us, as he flipped me off with his mind, despite smiling at the younger woman.

"First off, I think we should combine our thoughts and try to plan to everyone's strength. What were you planning on doing before Rue and I showed up?" I asked, leaning back against the hotel wall.

"Well, Misa was going to research Light Yagami. She wants to learn as much about Kira-san as she can!" the model exclaimed.

Nodding, I said, "I've been monitoring the police force, just in case they try to find Kira through us. All of the Task Force was checked, and being the son of the police chief, Light Yagami was researched extensively. What do you need to know?" Once again, I activated the graphire and ran a quick scan of the boy.

"Everything!"

"Hmm... let's see... First place in the National Tennis Tournament for 2nd and 3rd years in middle school, received a perfect score on the entrance exam to To-Oh University- he'll be their student commencement speaker this year- born February 28, 1989, has a mother and sister, Sachiko and Sayu respectively."

"Misa wonders what it would be like to meet them~" Misa gushed.

"It might be too soon to approach Light. Perhaps a more evasive move is in store..." mused Beyond. _After all, she _does _know our names now, so getting her arrested isn't the best of plans._

_Arrested? _I almost raised an eyebrow.

_If the Misa makes contact with Light so soon after recognizing him on a date when the police are most active, Light's killing pattern might change based on what Misa has to say, or even just knowing who she is. It's a dead giveaway, _he explained, as though speaking to a child.

Beyond might have been a major pain in the ass on good days, but he sure knew his stuff.

"Misa will think of something," the model nodded.

"In the meantime, it was wonderful meeting you, Misa," I smiled.

"Oh, the same to you, Ishi-san!"

"Just Ishi, please. Oh, and one more thing?" _Because Beyond is right and I refuse to outright tell him. Again._ "If for whatever reason you do meet up with Light without contacting us, please don't mention my brother nor I. You see, I'm been thinking about something, something very crucial, and if Kira-san wear to know, I fear it might jeopardize his life."

Misa's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if L is working with a select Task Force of the police, and Light just so happens to be the chief's son, then Light might already have a hand in the police's dealings with his own case. In other words, Light may already have a lead on how to get to L. My plan is basically a backup. You see, after all of those years of lying to people about my mother, I guess you could say I got pretty good at it. My brother and I have been planning to infiltrate the police force- or actually, just me, but Rue's helping. That way, if Kira-san doesn't plan to hit them where it hurts, he'll already have a man on the inside," I said. "However, if he doesn't recognize me, or know that he already has someone gathering intel, then he's less likely to 'pick favorites' and pull me aside to discuss immediate problems. Kira wouldn't be working with just anyone on the Task Force, and I wouldn't want him to slip up because of me."

"Wow. You really think things through, don't you?" Misa marveled.

I flushed modestly. "We try."

After a short goodbye session (where BB got hugged again and I felt a few of his brain cells die), Beyond and I abandoned the room at the fastest past we could without looking suspicious, only for a sudden thought to strike. Motioning to Beyond to continue ahead, I swiftly backtracked down the hallway and crouched by the door.

"-like nice people," Misa was saying, her voice muffled but still faintly audible. "I think they're worth trusting."

"I don't know, Misa. Their eyes... there's something not quite right about them," Rem's voice echoed dully.

"Still, who'd have thought that someone else would have the eyes! How's that possible if they don't have a Death Note? Did either of them have a shinigami?"

"Not that I could see, and I could also see their lifespans, so neither of them have used a Death Note, or at least not that they could remember. About the eyes, I'm not sure. I've heard of a human with shinigami eyes. In the past, a deal has always had to have been made, and it was through the Death Note."

"I wonder if he was born with them... That would be so cool!" There was a soft sigh, then the rustling of covers. "Beyond Birthday... Katherine Carpender... Despite their surnames, they really do _look_ like siblings, don't they? Dark hair and eyes... and the same dreary style of clothing."

To be honest, I wasn't sure what made me want to head the wall more: the fact that she just said our names out loud, or that fact that she believed we were siblings because of how we looked. And since when did my "style of clothing" look dreary? And who the heck uses dreary as an adjective anyways? And why did I seem to be so defensive over this?

Shaking my head, I headed back down the hallway. It didn't seem like I was going to get anything good out of her anyways. Who knew a person could be so obvious? She seemed to say whatever she thought, which I was seriously beginning to worry about. The last thing I wanted was for her to go straight to Light and blab our names. I got the feeling Misa herself wouldn't kill us, but Kira/Light might not be so sympathetic.

As I sauntered outside, I noticed that my mind-amoeba had waited for me in the shadows of the building. _Nothing new, _I said before he could ask. _Rem's suspicions, but that might have been because I almost put a bullet in her skull. People tend to hold a grudge over that sort of thing._

He snorted, but didn't say anything.

The two of us carried on silence all the way back to our hotel. Little did we know that we were in for one hell of a ride.

Well, mostly me.

* * *

><p>I lost track of time after meeting up with Misa, but it seemed to only take a few hours before Autumn was drawing my attention to the television screen. It might have been two days after the whole incident, but my mind was still weary, if after we had explained the gist to the kid.<p>

The message of the day was short and sweet and sponsored by the Second Kira: "I have found Kira. Thank you everyone at the TV and police station."

Click.

I stared at the screen as it momentarily went dark before the previous broadcast resumed. "What. The. Heck." Was she out of her mind?! Okay, so I might have accidentally suggested that she could take a course of action without consulting us, but that didn't mean she had to come out and say it! Granted, in my haste to escape, I might have _forgotten _to get her some sort of contact information (God, I would pay for that so much later), but honestly! It was like she _wanted _somebody get to arrested!

_What an odd move, _Beyond mused from where he was lounging on the bed. The man was stretched out, flat on his back, with his arms crossed behind his head, eyes closed. _It's almost like she _wants _to taunt the police, but just hasn't the touch._

_You seem awfully relaxed, _I shot him a longside look.

_Of course, _he breezed. _The police will look at this as bad news, but L will note Misa's choice of words. Notice how she used the word 'found' instead of 'met'. L will assume, if he already hasn't, that the Second Kira has 'found' the First, but has yet to meet him. L will see this as a chance to intervene before the Kiras _do _make contact. To him, having the two Kiras working side-by-side could easily tear the world apart. He is no doubt hesitant over the entire shinigami issue, but will put it behind him long enough to use the police to bait the Second Kira into telling them who the First is._

For the first time in forever, I felt higher than I kite. _Speaking of word usage, you slipped up._

A single eye opened to peer up at me. _What do you mean?_

_L has an issue with shinigamis, doesn't he? _I asked triumphantly.

Beyond deadpanned. _That's your brilliant deduction?_

Come to think of it, my idea _was_ pretty stupid, but hey: Beyond Birthday revealed something. _It's obvious you two have gone head-to-head in the past, you wouldn't have been in that asylum otherwise, but you mentioned that L would be hesitant about gods of death. You have the eyes of a shinigami._

_Are you suggesting that my eyes allowed me to... what is it you like to say? 'Pull one over' L?_

Maybe in the worst way possible. _Maybe._

The eye closed. He didn't say anything, nor did he direct any thoughts at me through the collar, but I felt him think to himself, 'That's a dead end. You won't get anywhere with that.'

Then why did it feel like he didn't believe it?

"Hey, guys? You're doing that thing again..." Autumn shifted around at the foot of the bed, casting wary looks between the two of us.

"Sorry, kiddo. So, what did _you _get from this broadcast?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Me?" she blinked. "Well, I think it was a nice slap in the face for the police, but it was kinda stupid, 'cause now they know Kira was in Aoyama on the twenty-second."

"Nicely done," I ruffled the girl hair. "Anything else?"

Autumn bit her lip. "Well... not from the broadcast..." I smiled encouragingly. "I was wondering... L's really smart, right?"

_Unfortunately, _B grunted.

"Yes," I restrained myself from shooting my mind-amoeba a glare.

"What is he notices something we don't? What if... what if we mess up, and L catches _us_ instead of Kira? What if he thinks _we_ arethe Kiras..?" her lower lip trembled.

"That won't happen, kiddo. You know why?"

"Why?" Autumn's innocent brown eyes gazed up into my dark green ones.

Innocence.

I kept forgotten how young she really was. Autumn was a six(seven?)-year-old girl, not one of my underdogs in the mafia. She _did _take orders well, but she was still a child, not a mindless killing machine. She could bench-press a hundred, aim a sniper rifle with surprising accuracy, had the nerve to challenge a schizophrenic serial killer to an arm wrestling match (without supervision), fake her entire identity at the drop of a hat- but under all of that bravado, Autumn Virginia Hall was just a girl who had lost her family, her mentor, and her home. And the other thing that had been given back to her to replace that loss was a paranoid detective with an insane mission and a dangerous murderer who had already taken a blade to her new mentor.

Autumn was just a kid, and sometimes, all a kid really needs is some subtle reassurance.

I took a deep breath and pointed my finger at Beyond. "Because, we have _him_."

You know how when someone catches you in the act and you've had all these really good excuses planned, and then they confront you and you forget every single one of them? Now picture _me_ as the kid with her hand in the cookie jar.

Honestly, I'm not sure who was more surprised with my outburst: Beyond or myself. The man's eyes were certainly not closed now; they were wide open, and as easy to read as any book. (His pages all currently read: IN SHOCK)

Nice going, reject brain. Care to elaborate?

Quickly fumbling for words, I crouched in front of Autumn (and no, it wasn't so that Beyond couldn't see my face; not all at). "You see... without him, we'd already be in the doghouse. L's secretive, determined, and- more importantly- completely invisible to the general public, and who knows him better than his ex-apprentice? Rue has more knowledge on L now than we'd be able to gather in _both _our lifetimes. He's cunning and intelligent-" maybe even more than me, "-and probably would have been stowed away in the back of L's mind until we broke him out. Tell me, if _you _were the most famous detective in the world, how would you feel if the one person who ever came within seconds of beating you suddenly made an explosive comeback?"

"But what about the Kiras. What if they figure out that we're just doing this to impress L? What if Misa gives Light our names and kills us?" A small tremble shook the girl's body.

Mouth, here comes my foot. Again.

"Of the six smartest people I've ever known, the two of them that are sitting here in this room with _never _let that happen. Now, I don't _care _how brilliant L thinks he is, or the Kiras for that matter, but that's a force that's pretty dang hard to beat. Also, I get the feeling that L hasn't set a foot in the field. Now look at _us _and tell me, with a straight face, that we're fumbling in the dark," I rested a hand on her knee, peering up into those chocolate orbs. "They. Will. _Never. _Win."

"But Ishi-chan, I'm scared..."

I smiled reassuringly. "Fear is good. It's a warning, it keeps you on your toes. Without it, you might as go plundering into anything blindfolded. Being afraid proves you're human. It's natural. Embrace it, kiddo, because a force that can push people off buildings, turn mighty leaders into cowards, bring out the hero from the most unlikely, and turn the entire world on its ear can't go ignored. Just remember that when this is all over, you can stand up, dust yourself off, and realized how much better you've become. Fear isn't just a weakness or weapon, it's what makes you _you_. If you can face your worst fear, you can do anything."

The girl seemed to relax a little. At least she didn't look like she was going to cry. "What do _you_ fear most, Ishi-chan?"

I froze. _My _worst fear? What did _I _fear most? Oh, jeez... where to start..?

"Betrayal."

Both Autumn and I jumped at Beyond's voice. Up until now, the schizophrenic had been oddly silent, both verbally and mentally. I slid sideways a little so as to see around Autumn. The man was sitting upright now, his back pressed against the headboard, a deep look of contemplation etched on his scarred face.

"A less experienced person would say exposure, but your worst fear... is betrayal," he said softly. His dark eyes flashed, and I could feel a slight lull through the collar as he shuffled through his memory. "You avoid sitting at all costs, unless absolutely necessary, and cannot stay in the same place for long. Infiltrating an average situation is your specialty by trade, you've been doing it almost your entire life, but all shown emotions are faked. However, this is not to hide your true self because you fear others knowing the truth, but rather that they may use that truth to hit you where it hurts. You don't fret the knowledge of others, only what they might do with it. In other words, you take extra precautions to insure that you never fully trust anyone, less they turn. You know... because you've been hurt before."

I recoiled automatically as I realized that the lull I was hearing wasn't through the collar: it was coming from within my very mind.

Beyond Birthday had hacked into _my _memories, not his.

Using all of my willpower, I clamped down on the sensation, fully intent on crushing it, but the damage had already been done. Beyond's presence withdrew without a struggle, though I could still feel the foreign tingling. A dark rage threatened to seep out as I glared at the man who sat oh-so-carelessly atop of bed and snarled, not bothering to disguise my tone, _Don't you EVER do that again._

All I got for a reply was the damned "I'm emotionally dead" look. If eyes were suppose to be the doorways to the soul, then his were shut, locked, bolted, the whole nine yards. There was nothing yielded in his gaze.

"I guess that makes since..." Autumn whispered, but neither mine nor Beyond were willing to tear our eyes away from each other long enough to look at her.

A pair of arms suddenly wrapped around my shoulders.

I jumped and looked around, fists at the ready. (Ooh, hoo! Just when I was in need of pummeling someone~!) To my disappointment, it was only the kid. Autumn layed her head on my shoulder and mumbled, "Don't worry, Ishi-chan. I'll never hurt you."

I might have been touched by her sincerity, but I was too busy trying to fight the urge to whip out my dagger and cut Beyond a new one. I wasn't planning on worrying about the kid's betrayal.

The only traitor _I_ cared about was sitting right in front of me.

* * *

><p>KC was seriously pissed, and Beyond really couldn't blame her.<p>

The woman in general was her own little configuration. She was like an onion; you had to peel her back a layer at a time, and she sent even the strongest away with tears- but not this time. As soon as she had slipped up, KC had left her mind completely exposed. It was like all of the walls that she had built up against him came tumbling down as soon as she admitted that she wasn't the mastermind behind it all. How could he possibly keep to himself? Looking into her mind was like taking candy from a baby. (Beyond himself had never really understood that expression. Sure, is _was _easy, but babies weren't suppose to eat candy anyways, so why would they have it in the first place?)

Regardless, the undisguised fury in her eyes had surprised Beyond. After everything they had been through- and all KC had accomplished throughout her life- he had honestly thought that she could take a hit home. Then again, he had not only exploited her weakness, but he had practically shoved her "trust" back down the woman's throat.

But Beyond didn't feel a single drop of remorse.

Much to his surprise, the back door she had left open had been to her memories. _All_ of them. And all of this time, he had been wondering why she was so intent on getting L's help, only to find out that she and Autumn were out of time- out of place- and had been stranded in a world with little in common with their own. 2038 was completely different from 2007 of this... universe. A _woman _was President of the United States, as was the Vice President, and the leader of the nation was also head of the mafia. KC was fluent in eighteen different languages, the majority of which Beyond faintly recognized, but he hadn't heard of some of the African dialects.

Despite the shock of learning the truth in a matter of seconds, the schizophrenic was fairly apathetic with it all. He would be inclined to say he'd seen weirder, but this particular incident took the gold. If only there was a sweeter icing on the cake.

Upon entering the woman's mind, he had practically been given a red carpet, except to one particular area. Judging from the memories around it, the section was from the time KC had been ten, right up until she turned twenty-one. No matter what he tried to do, Beyond couldn't force his way into that section of her mind; it was completely sealed, maybe even from KC herself. Granted, all of this had happened in a matter of seconds, but BB still felt as though he might have been able to barge through the barrier had he been given more time.

After KC and Autumn's little talk, said detective had locked herself in the bathroom and argued with herself in a vicious tone. Her emotions were a whirling hurricane, and the only thing substantial Beyond really got from her was cold, hard resentment. Sure, she respected him, even daring to admire his cunning intellect, yet she still held regret for ever saying such. The mental banter continued for quite some time until complete silence fell on the other end of the... collar. Beyond was still getting to use all of the weird functions of the mechanical devices, and having another mind _inside _of his own wasn't exactly his idea of a picnic. After a few minutes of... well, _nothing _Beyond decided to ignore KC's words and reach out for her mind, as he had learned to do.

The woman's presence was completely gone.

Puzzled, the man searched in depth, but it was as though the detective had never existed. Usually he could feel the occasional emotion, and hear the thoughts she sent his way, or even solid resistance if he tried to peep into her head, but now there was absolutely nothing.

_Who the fuck are you?_

Beyond jumped almost a mile into the air. _KC? _The woman's voice sounded odd. Mechanical, even, if not sleepy.

_Oh. It's you. _The voice deadpanned.

So _this _was Trey. Beyond recognized the voice from KC's memories, but he hadn't heard it for himself. Until now, anyways. _Hi_, he mused.

_Oh, great. So now _I'm _stuck with the schizophrenic serial killer, _the loctopus complained loudly. _Nice. You know what? That's just great. Brilliant!_

Someone was definitely happy to see him.

_Bite me_, was Trey's reply.

_You're still holding a grudge from where I trapped you under a Solo cup~ _Beyond thought in a sing-song tone. The flurry of grumbling that next came from the device was more than amusing.

_And you're still an insufferable bastard, _the loctopus shot back. _No wonder you're driving KC up the walls when I'm not around. Jeez, you're like a walking monotone._

_A walking monotone? _Beyond had to raise an eyebrow.

_Listen, just because you're wearing a fancy collar doesn't mean I'm going to listen to you, much less take orders, so don't expect any presents in the next while._

Humming to himself, Beyond flitted through the memories from KC that he had stored on the graphire until he found the right moment. Using the graphire' internal GPS, the man zoomed in to locate the little loctopus, who was hiding away inside KC's bag. Before Trey could escape, Beyond plucked him from the pocket and watched as eight tiny legs began to flail wildly.

_Put me down!_

Beyond had to smirk. Surprisingly, when he now looked at the mechanism, he could not only see but understand all of the work that had gone into his production. Trey's heat sensor was trashed (KC's doing, not his), as well as his binary sonar/pager systems, but B _did _manage to locate a function that would turn the loctopus into a cube. Laughing to himself, Beyond flipped the loctopus onto his back on his palm and began to turn Trey around, peering down with narrowed eyes.

KC really did know her stuff. Whoever had taught her must have been a genius.

Finally giving in to the loctopus' caterwauling, Beyond set Trey on the foot of the bed and watched the dark blur shoot across the covers and back into the bag. The device seemed hostile towards him in comparison to his previous "owner." If only there was some way to change that...

* * *

><p>Whoop dee freaking doo. Nice going, me. You know, there are sometimes when I wonder how it is that I haven't gotten myself killed yet. This would be one of those times.<p>

A few minutes after I retreated to the bathroom (and a few more minutes of cussing myself until I was blue in the face), my scarred mind had finally reached a logical response: I took off my collar. Without the link through the graphire, there would be no way for Beyond to ever see into my mind.

But I still stayed hidden in the bathroom in a very mature fashion. At least until the kid started beating ferociously on the door, yelling about a new broadcast. Apparently, it wasn't from either Kira.

I hesitantly retreated from my haven, refusing to make eye contact with the figure on the bed, and crossed my arms, leaning back against the wall as a police badge flashed across the television.

"If Kira still doesn't know who you are, then it's not too late. You must not meet Kira just because you're curious! Kira is a serial _murderer_, and you must not help him! You should think about the importance of lives and tell us who Kira is. If you do so, we'll soften your own sentence. Save the world from the murderous hands of Kira!"

Taking a deep breath, I made to leave.

"Hey, where're you going, Ishi-chan?" Autumn piped up, cocking her head and frowning up at me.

"For a walk. Stay here," I instructed briskly, stepping out into the hall and pulling the door to behind me.

Where was I going? Honestly, I had no clue. I really didn't care where my feet took me, as long as I got as far away from those two as possible. Not surprisingly, that's exactly what I did. I walked until the sun went down, my feet were aching, and I was ready to kick more than the occasional broken chunk of pavement. If I had though that taking a stroll would clear my brain, I was dead wrong.

_Deep breaths, KC. Hold yourself together. You had a feeling this would happen, so it's not like you were completely sideswiped_, I told myself, dribbling a rock between my feet. _Just think: everything's going according to plan- so long as Misa doesn't turn herself in. That would suck balls. No! Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts. Okay, what do I know so far? Hmm... L is pretty good, so is Kira, Misa's a bit of a ditz but seems nice overall, and... I just left the kid back in the hotel with a schizophrenic serial killer who just downloaded all of my memories on the graphire... which is still with him._

Swearing under my breath, I turned a corner more sharply than I had intended and almost ran headfirst into a light pole. Skipping sideways to avoid a painful collision, I somehow managed to trip over the small stone I had been kicking, only to bowl over a garbage can sitting at the corner of the intersection. A car's horn blared as it swerved wildly to avoid the bin as it rolled into the street.

Today just wasn't my day.

Sadly enough, that was the last though I had before I noticed masked men racing towards me, a large sack in hand. Something smashed into the back of my head, and I was seeing stars long before I collapsed on the side of the road.

* * *

><p>The sun was just beginning to peak through the window, and still no sign of KC. Autumn was bored out of her mind; Beyond had caught her hacking nearby computers for fun and changing their screen savers to a Powerpoint presentation of their computer deleting its entire harddrive, byte by byte. She had also counted the number of cream and white tiles in the bathroom (57 white, 28 cream), slept, made the bed (and a horrendous pot of coffee), pickpocketed the woman across the hall, slept some more, rewired the microwave to where it would electrocute anything within two feet if someone pressed the number 3, finger-painted the walls with lemon juice and used the graphire's black light to see her pictures- not necessarily in that order. Regardless, the active girl still seemed more bored than Beyond himself, who was currently watching the streets below with keen sights.<p>

The man had expected KC to return sometime during the night, but the only company he had was Autumn- who was beginning to make him antsy- and Trey- who was making a point to be as insufferable as possible. Between the two, Beyond was honestly hoping the woman would finish her little tantrum and return with some other insane notion to keep the plan moving.

Then again, all of this time to basically himself had left him time to surf through his newly acquired data and relive a lot of KC's memories on fast-forward. To say that she had had an interesting life would be a bit of an understatement, but it was entertaining nonetheless. However, once Autumn had decided to active every radio in a mile radius on the higher possible volume around six in the morning, it was a little hard to concentrate.

Beyond ran his finger along the smooth side of the dagger's blade. 2038 was hardly imaginable without his new prompts. Hovercrafts? Cars that ran off a graphene/chloroform platelet that used sunlight? Possible world peace? Technology so advanced that artificial intelligence is easily mistaken to be living, and is so common that no one really cares? A woman who can fake two entirely different lives with such dexterity that they never overlap? Six-year-old spies who train to work for the mafia? The place was as foreign to Beyond as any outrageous sci-fi movie. What was next? Teleportation and faster-than-light travel?

He almost chuckled at the though of KC failing to activate the graphire teleportation device. Perhaps she ended up in Honduras. The thought wasn't remotely realistic, nor relevant, but it kept Beyond from delving too deep into much darker thoughts, like the small cut on his finger and the trail of blood that run down it, the dark red liquid dripping to the floor.

That would surely leave a stain.

* * *

><p>The first thing I knew when I woke up was that I was really in the mood to kick someone ass. No, I really didn't care who my victim would be, but they were in for it.<p>

Groaning softly, I tried to twist around amidst my pitch-black surroundings, only to feel straps securing my body to a cold metal plank behind me, keeping me in a standing position. There was also an odd beeping sound coming from my right that sounded suspiciously like a heart monitor. Frowning slightly, I rubbed my head against my shoulder.

Yep. I was blindfolded. Lovely.

I flicked my wrists; both were bound by what might have been belts or suspenders. The back of my head was throbbing dully, but it didn't hurt was much as my right arm, which felt remotely like someone had taken a blunt knife to it. That, or a saw. There was a wide strap that wrapped around my stomach, and another wrapped around my throat and cleaved at my collarbone to loop around around my shoulders. Six restraints pinned my legs, one on each thigh and below the knee, as well as broad cuffs just above the ankle. My hands were tied with rope behind my back on the other side of the cold plank, more straps spiraling up my arms.

Apparently, I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Clicking my tongue loudly, I strained to listen to the echo. My improvised sonar told me that I was in a small room, five square meters at the most, with... stone walls? Dusty floor? Jeez, where was I? A dungeon? That would honestly make my day.

Time seemed to fade away as I hung there. I could have been there for half an hour, or a full day. The rumbling of my stomach told me that I had been unconscious for at least a few hours, if not days. The blow to my head didn't hurt so badly, so I was going to assume it was roughly a day. I entertained myself by testing the beeping thing at my side and deducted that it was indeed a heart monitor. Still, someone could have at least put on some music, or let me go to the bathroom, or get a drink of water, or do _something _other than just exist.

Yep. So not my day.

I dozed in and out of sleep, having long-since gone from anxiety-ridden to bored-as-crap, right up until a loud crackle filled the room, followed closely by a long stream of static. I could say that I perked right up, but that would be one hell of an exaggeration.

Finally! A change! I straightened upright as best I could, cocking my head to one side as I waited for... whatever it was I was waiting for.

"_Hmm... this is quite a predicament,_" mused a voice. A _filtered _voice. The beeping of the machine doubled in speed.

Oh, no way. No freaking way.

"_As fascinating as your case may be- you appear to have no record of yourself on any database in the world- I have to say that it is certainly interesting to meet you. How anyone could have come so close to finding me, I would love to know._"

A large grin spread across my face, despite myself. _There _it was, what I had been waiting to return since the end of time (well, maybe not that long): _me_. "It really kills you, doesn't it?"

"_I believe I'll leave Kira to do the killing, though his reign may be coming to an end quicker than he anticipated. Yours, on the other hand, is most certainly finished._"

Of course, the one time I would get myself captured by the L would be the one time I'm not wearing my collar.

Shit.

* * *

><p><em>And L finally makes his appearance! *cheers* Okay, so maybe he doesn't actually <em>appear _so to speak, but he speaks! No pun intended. ;) So, what do _you _think will happen next? Feel free to guess!_

_Until next time, all! _Ciao!


	19. Total Annihilation

_:D I'm back! And now the moment you've all been waiting for..! Know what? I'll let you read it for yourself. See you at the bottom!_

_As tragic a statement as I may make, I do not own Death Note._

* * *

><p><strong>Total Annihilation<strong>

**DAY 2 OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT- May 27nd**

It would figure that the one time I screw up badly, make a fool of myself, and stomp off without a plan would also be the one time I get caught for it. Karma really does hate me.

I laughed dryly. "You could say that." Twisting myself around until I felt a little more comfortable, I added, "I don't suppose you've got a bottle of water on you? I'm parched."

There was a short pause before the mechanic voice crackled back to life. "_This is hardly an interview. You do realize that you are now under arrest under suspicion of being Kira._"

Funny. Didn't the kid just say something about that?

"I do now," I labored. "Though I have to say that I don't remember getting read my rights, or do they not do that sort of thing in Japan? It's been a while since I was in town."

"_Which has been for the past few months, correct?_"

...Maybe I wasn't as invisible to L as I had thought. Yet another notch in my pride. My lips curled into a smile as I asked, "How did you find me, anyways?"

"_Perhaps if you told me first, I might be inclined to return the favor._"

If L is as smart as he lets on to be, and was able to take down Beyond- who's still one little mofo in my book- then he'd probably guess if I was lying. For all I knew, he might have the entire place wired, not just me. "Maybe later," I amended easily. "Quick question: am I in jail? This feels suspiciously like a jail cell, but without the bars. Also, you said I was arrested, but I'm pretty sure I got clocked over the head. Something hard... pipe? Baseball bat? It doesn't seem to hurt so badly now. Guess I was out for a day or two. Also, a nice touch with the heart monitor. Seriously, it's the only thing in here that I can amuse myself with."

The extended silence on the other end was reassuring. Maybe if I just BSed the whole time, he'd throw me in an asylum and be done. Wouldn't be the first time for him.

"_Do you have a name?_"

I held back a laugh. _This _was the great L? Haphazard questions and odd motives? Then again, I can see where B gets it from, being his next-in-line and all. "Sure, but like you'd really expect me to say it with a murderer on the loose. Call me Ishi. At least until I'm sure you're not Kira posing as L to try and get information out of me."

"_What would convince you otherwise?_"

What _would _convince me? If I asked for his name, I might as well wear a 'Kira' nametag. If I asked when he was moving into his building, and he didn't reply, I would have just set L up; the detective could very well be putty in Kira's hands: all Kira would have to do is look up recent buildings in the area. Then again, I might be underestimating L, or even Kira.

Rolling my shoulders as best I could, I said, "The method of my capture. For someone with his own private Task Force, not to mention little Ls, you sure use discreet methods. I mean- c'mon, I almost got hit by a car!"

For the next few hours, all I received in return was static.

Nice way to blow it, KC.

* * *

><p>"<em>The method of my capture. For someone with his own private Task Force, not to mention little Ls, you sure use discreet methods. I mean- c'mon, I almost got hit by a car!<em>"

L eyed the woman onscreen, a thumb probing his mouth. Little Ls? Private Task Force? Someone had been doing her homework. The detective removed the finger from his mouth long enough to poke the strawberries in his bowl into a more appealing layout.

_It would appear as though this woman is the same one who broke Beyond Birthday out of the asylum last month. _The woman wouldn't know about the orphanage otherwise. Despite everything, L was a little anxious about the reappearance of his old nemesis, especially during one of his more involved cases. _Beyond Birthday... he who bears the eyes of a God of Death... It is possible that Backup is one of the Kiras, though highly implausible. His skills may have deteriorated while in prison, and then when he was transferred, but his mind was always sharp, even from the beginning. Regardless, the probability of BB assisting Light Yagami in the ways of adverting me as Kira is roughly sixteen percent. Just another piece to the puzzle..._

L finished off the remainder of his strawberries without much foreplay, hardly even bothering to sprinkle them with sugar. The rest of the Task Force would be arriving at the hotel in a few hours, and as much turmoil as this new twist had spawned, the detective wasn't too keen on letting it show to the police officers, especially since Matsuda would be bringing Light to the new location. Perhaps he could hold this curious newcomer a while longer. No one would mind the World's Greatest Detective landing an illegal immigrant in prison in his spare time.

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 4- May 29th<strong>

If I was more poetic, I would say that hours melted into days, which slowly dissolved into weeks upon months and years, but I was never really one to spew feelings all over a blank page. All in all, I was really freaking tired of being tired up, and I was parched beyond belief.

Beyond.

I tried to swallow the guilt, as though it were tangible, but only succeeded in irritating my throat, drawing a long series of coughing and hacking. But did I honestly feel _guilty?_ Hell, I wasn't the one who had traipsed in through the back door of someone's mind and blurted out whatever I felt like. _Rage_ I could understand, even deep remorse, but _guilt?_

It must have been the dehydration talking.

I licked my lips. When was the last time I had had something to drink? Days? I couldn't have been a week; I should have been dead long before then. What if that beeping wasn't just a heart monitor, but an IV system as well? Figures. You'd keep the prisoner alive just enough to speak, but no more. That sounded like something L would do. But still, first thing was first:

If this was L, I was still trying to impress him, right? Even though I was tied up?

…

Yeah, I was dehydrated.

Groaning loudly, I returned to scrubbing my head on my shoulder. Maybe if I concentrated _really_ hard, I could get this thing off...

Ah ha! There!

The stupid blindfold slipped over the top of my head and fell to the floor. Shaking a few strands of hair back from my eyes, I got a good look around the room. The walls were bare and dusty, as was the ceiling, despite an interesting lighting system. I could have sworn the panels themselves were glowing... Ahem. To my left was a bench, which was covered in extra restraints and a bucket half-filled with grimy-looking water. On my right was the IV/heart monitor. (Score one for KC! Duel systems for the win! ...Okay, never doing that again.) Directly in front of me was a fancy Cannon camera, equipped with a broad zoom lens and thick wires that trailed out of its backside and into the wall near the floor. I couldn't turn my head far enough to see anything past my shoulders, but I was guessing that there was a door somewhere back there.

After ten minutes of counting the number of times the lights flickered, I was positive I was going insane. Not that I already hadn't.

God, I was so thirsty...

* * *

><p><strong>August 1st<strong>

Autumn stared down at the newspaper she had handed BB a mere moment before, her amber eyes still locked onto the date in the upper corner. August first? How was that even possible? It had been May just yesterday! May twenty-ninth, to be exact.

"Hmm..." B mused, running his pale, slender fingers along the print. The girl barely managed to keep from shuddering. Sometimes, the man could really creep her out.

Actually, that was most of the time.

"I know. Weird, right?" she whispered. "It's like... like..."

"The world's moving on without us," he finished as he turned the page, dark eyes scanning the paper.

The girl's eyes flew wide open. First KC goes missing, and then this? "Do you think someone's after us? What if we got hit over the head? Do you think," her voice dropped as low as it would go, "we have amnessie?"

"Amnesia," BB corrected. "And the chances of us sharing identical mental trauma are high unlikely, if not impossible."

"Oh..."

The girl noticed the man's hand rub at the collar absentmindedly. She had seen him doing that a lot since he had gotten it, more so after KC's disappearance. Autumn had never really payed much attention to KC's whole rant about how it worked in correspondence to the human body, but she did understand that the graphire was an ingenious piece of technology, even for its time. Without KC here to know most of the stuff that went on inside the trio of objects, who knew what could happen without anyone picking up on it? Oddly enough, Autumn could have sworn that she had seen Trey slipping in and out of the hotel rooms when she was stumbling around at night. It was a little surprising, given that she hadn't seen the loctopus out and about since B had gotten his own collar. If 'Trey' referred to three, who knew? Maybe only three pieces could be working at a time.

Beyond suddenly got to his feet, eyes narrowed. Swallowing loudly, Autumn asked, "What are you doing?"

The man didn't reply. Autumn took a deep breath as she waited for him to stop spacing. It was seriously annoying when KC did it, but now him too? As inappropriate as she knew it would be, the girl couldn't help but wonder if tickling them would get their attention quicker.

After ten or so minutes of B pretending to be a statue, Autumn wondered off to find Trey. Maybe the loctopus would be in a less flighty mood that his previous controller.

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 7- June 1st<strong>

Alright, it had been at least a week since I had been captured/kidnapped, and the only reassurance I had had that _someone _was still keeping me alive (and hadn't dropped off the face of the earth) was the figure who came in to give me sustenance and help me go to the bathroom. The first time he/she/it had come in, I had been chloroform-ed and awoken with a fancy-shmancy blindfold; _this_ one was equipped with a strap that ran under my chin so that it couldn't be slid over my head.

L knew me too well.

I had now progressed from boredom to _extreme _boredom. I had even gone so far as to hum in between visits from my mysterious feeder. I highly doubted that it was L, or anyone else from the police, but who else would it be? Once, I had tried to talk to the person, who was as stoic as a rock. So much for being friendly.

Anywho- I was in the middle of guesstimating where I was being kept when static erupted around me. I couldn't help the grin that spread across my face.

"_Are you ready to talk now?_"

I sighed, reclining my head to that it rested on the bar behind me. "Haven't you figured out who I am yet? If you really are L, then surely you must have a speculation."

The static cut off.

Huh. Strike two. Maybe the guy just didn't like lengthy conversations.

Groaning under my breath, I twisted my head around as far as I could. A soft clink reverberated as the hooks of the chin strap knocked against the metal. By golly, if I couldn't escape, then I would damn well be sure that I could still see. I continued writhing until I had pivoted as far as I could. I set my chin on the bar, then scraped it against the metal. I met resistance at the strap, but it firmly stayed on. A soft growl escaped my lips, but I tried again. No such luck.

Maybe it wasn't clasped by hooks. What if it was fashioned like a bike helmet?

I cocked my head and snapped my chin down at an angle. CLANG! Hmm... That didn't seem to do anything. Well, except but to give me another bruise.

The speaker crackled back to life. "_Just what are you attempting to accomplish?_"

I would have really liked to smart off, maybe with something like, "_World domination, but I wasn't sure how that would look on my resume_." but I quite liked having all of my limbs, so I went with, "Overcoming the persistence of boredom."

The speaker continued to hum as I repeatedly knocked my chin against the bar in a furious attempt to snap the clasp. Well, if one could still assume it was like a buckle. If not, I really must have looked like a fool.

Then again... the blindfold didn't have to come _off _of me in order for me to see.

Twisting my neck as hard an angle as I could turn it, I brought my head up from under the bar, shoving the blindfold down off of my eyes and under my chin. Sure, my nose was aching like crazy, but I could see again.

FUCK YEAH.

Barely withholding a triumphant smirk, I shifted in my bindings and layed my throbbing head back against the bar. Good old bar.

If I didn't know better, I would have said that L's next words sounded remarkably like pouting. "_Just what do you hope to accomplish in this state?_"

I took a moment to think. If I could fool Misa into thinking that I was on Kira's side, then maybe I could use my advantage to pretend to be on L's side. Then again, I might as well be signing my own tombstone. This might not even be L, but a freakishly good impostor.

_Beyond, I swear to God... if this is somehow your fault..._

Instead, I went with the simplest answer that could anger neither party: "Justice."

* * *

><p>"<em>Justice.<em>"

L set down the fork he had been using to eat cake. Dark eyes bore into the screen in front of him as he watch the woman attempt to stretch. Despite being locked up for a few days, she seemed to have a certain... _ease_ about her. Also, she didn't seem to be suffering from nutritional deficit that was attributed with being fed one small meal a day. In fact, she was as healthy as a horse. It was almost as if she had been running on empty _until _she had been caught. Regardless of her current condition, nothing could nor should have altered her mannerism to the point of pococurantism, but she hardly seemed fazed by anything.

L's finger slid to the button on the control panel in front of him. "What do you fear?" It was more of a abstract thought spoken aloud than a question directed at her.

The woman's eyes darkened, as though remembering a troubling event. There was slight reservation in her voice when she spoke, "_Kira._"

L drew back a little. _She fears... death? Or injustice?_ Perhaps he should try another angle... Feinting innocence, the detective said, "But Kira serves a higher purpose. By killing off those who have done wrong, he makes the world a better place for the innocent."

A loud sigh echoed in the cell as her head dropped. "_It's just my personal opinion, but a world living in fear of a so-called god isn't really my idea of justice. If anything, people would stop committing crimes out of fear of death, or worse, they would find ways to avoid detection. Kira would as soon wipe out the worst of us all, but there's an old saying about survival of the fittest, and I would hate to see criminals band together for a common cause. It's bad enough to have them strike out on their own times. If they _did _manage to take down Kira together, they might just realize how well they work as a team and never disband. Those who stood up against Kira for his own crimes would already be dead by then, so what shape would the world be in?The world would be ridden, rotten, and where's the justice in that?_"

L's thumb found he mouth as he contemplated the woman. Here she was, trapped in place she knew not, by someone she didn't know, with no hope of escaping- yet all she feared was the loss of justice from the world.

"How did you find me?"

With a roll of her eyes, she said, "_You're really persistent, you know that? Fine, if it bothers you so much: it was the device that you equipped to every member of the Task Force you work with, the one built into the belts. I disassembled it, figured out how it was wired, and built my own copy, but with cheaper materials. The idea was to send a signal so weak that it would be written off as interference, but just enough for me to be able to tell which tower- or satellite- you were using. I guessed that the signal would lead me directly to you, and lookie what I found._" A wry smile curled the corners of her mouth.

"And who gave you that idea, Ishi-san?"

A confused look momentarily passed over her face. "Me, myself, and I. Just your friendly, neighborhood magicians."

"Allow me to be more precise: where is Beyond Birthday?"

The woman's head dropped, her black bangs falling in front of her face, obscuring it from the camera's sights. It was quiet for a moment, and then L noticed the odd tremors running down her body. He watched for a few more moments before he realized what it was.

She was trying not to laugh.

"_The World's Best Detective, who never shows his face in public for any reason, who fears leaving behind tracks and thus avoids walking, who has successfully completed thousands of cases from all over the world- and yet that one little detective left behind a trace that he thought no one would look twice. At least you've proven your identity, L. Was it the comment about 'little Ls', or the fact that the asylum got blown sky-high with no sign of a body?_"

"That mental ward was designed to be a trap. Backup was relocated as soon as I officially adapted the Kira case, to be sure that if Kira ever tried to discover my true identity, I would know just what type of man he was."

"_So you put B in a prison all his own in the hopes of drawing Kira out in the open, but you got me instead._" She chuckled, shaking her head. "_It looks like we walked right into each other's traps without noticing, huh?_"

"You still never answered my question."

Another deep breath. "_I don't know._"

L stared.

"_I don't know where he is. The last time I saw him was almost a week before you threw me in here. He picked the lock of the handcuffs I was using on him and fled during the night. Took all my cash, too. Haven't seen hide nor hair of him since._"

There was a fault in the woman's voice, but her words rung clear. She seemed indifferent enough, it was hard to tell when she was rambling and when she was explaining, but if was telling the truth...

Beyond Birthday was loose in the world.

The man's eyes widened as a certain memory floated to the surface of his mind. Three photographs, cafe, Light, and finally...

_L, did you know- gods of death love apples?_

Not only was Backup free, but there was a seventy-two percent chance that he was working directly with the first Kira.

* * *

><p><strong>August 1st2nd- midnight**

KC's memories whirled through his mind, a ravaging hurricane of thoughts, emotions, reactions, knowledge- he had it all. He could watch as she shot an unarmed man, or hacked the President's laptop, or leaped from a flaming helicopter. The people she worked for, the clients she protected, the places she went, the things she observed- nothing was withheld. Her entire lifespan splayed out before him, and his alone to view at his discretion. The echoes of her mind was putty in his hands, stained with blood, scorned by fire, and now dirtied with the skeletons he had found hidden in another's closet. KC may have chosen to see herself above him, but upon further inspection- or even a halfhearted glance- one could oh-so-easily see who had more blood on their hands.

And she called _him _the murderer.

Beyond perched on the ledge of the roof, the fierce winds lashing at his hair and clothing. How gracefully he might have allowed himself to be blown away on the breeze, falling and falling to the streets below. He could almost imagine the headlines.

'John Doe- Human Splatter Paint on Elm Street'

A dry chuckle rose in his throat. Such a wonderful mess, but it would have come far too late.

L.

The name was poison in his mouth. Once a great mentor, now a pathetic failure. Beyond almost hoped that Kira would get him, to watch from above like an avenging angel as the World's Greatest Detective was struck down by a petty "justice bringer." He would love to be the last face L saw, just past Kira's shoulder. Hell, he wouldn't even mind if Misa killed the bastard himself.

No.

No one else deserved to kill him. Kira may have been L's new little toy, but it would distract him from the bigger picture.

_And while L's busy with those fools, he won't even see his precious Backup. _A cruel smile darkened the man's scarred face. _With KC out of the way- _to wherever the hell the woman had wandered off to- _there's no one to keep me from using the graphire to do what it does best._

KC may have come off as prim and proper as she would like about the functions and purpose of her inventions, but Beyond knew better. The graphire wasn't made to be useful; it was made to be used as a last resort. It wasn't a simple gadget, nor a machine, not even a last resort mechanism. The graphire was THE last resort, when all else failed and the world was crumbling around you. It would bring the most powerful to their knees. It would level whole cities. It would destroy the entire Internet itself it the owner willed it. The graphire wasn't a child's toy. Oh no. It certainly wasn't. Beyond Birthday could see directly into the moments when KC was constructing it, what she was feeling, and everything in between. The trio had been born out of blood, hatred, and desolation.

The graphire wasn't just a "mechanism;" it was a weapon of total annihilation.

And now, it was all his.

* * *

><p><em>*cue ominous music*<br>_

_Duhn duhn DUHN! Beyond's taken a turn for the dark side! I guess all that power got to his head. Also, L finally made his actual to goodness appearance! I hope I didn't make him too OOC. It's been a while since I've seen the anime, and I'm trying to catch up on the manga. Also, remember the time skip back in chapter... uh, whenever I put that timeskip in? XD If you DO remember (then your memory is a lot better than mine), I told you all that it was relevant. Though the timeskips seem really odd and out of place, they are purely intentional. I also apologize if the dates at the top are confusing any of you; they're more for me, to be honest. As seen above, my mind is like Swiss cheese, just with more holes._

_Tell me what you think about the latest installment, ask questions, throw a party (as long as you invite me!)- and I hope you liked it! See you in chapter twenty! ;)_


	20. Hummiliation for Dummies

_Woohoo! Look at that! Seventy reviews, and only twenty chapters into the story! I could seriously hug all of you. Also, I do apologize in advance if my future updates are few and far between. These collages classes are killer, but the homework is twice is bad. I haven't even touched my laptop in three weeks until yesterday. If any of you have some extra time on your hands, perhaps you would care to assist me with my work..? On second thought, I wouldn't force my AMAZING readers to undergo such horrors. Another friend of mine is taking the exact same classes as me, and she has a job. I have no clue how she does it. Seriously._

_Well, here's chapter twenty. I think it's a little short, but if I kept going, it might not have been published until next fortnight. I hope you all enjoy it. See you at the bottom!_

* * *

><p><strong>Humiliation for Dummies<strong>

**August 2nd- just after midnight**

A raunchy laugh was building inside of Beyond, twisting his insides into a pain-stricken mess. It reverberated throughout him, rattling up his windpipe, until it exploded from his mouth into vicious laughter. Dark. Fearless.

Oh, how long it had been since he had practiced laughing. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed this. Any of it. The power. The indescribable power, and fixation, and blood lust.

And L.

"You poor, poor bastard..." Beyond smirked. "How you always hoped A would succeed you, but you ended up with little old me. A psychopath with powers not even you could explain. I still have my shinigami eyes, L. Did you know that? And if I could see your face just once before I die, it would be worth it. So very, very worth it."

He had no idea if his plan would work. It had been so long since he had been in the driver's seat, especially with KC ordering him around like a drill sergeant. Who knew if his mind was any good, but one could only guess. Then again, he was still a child of Wammy's, no matter how much he despised the place. Their intelligence was never to be underestimated.

Never.

"Oh, L~ I have a little surprise for you. Aren't you curious? You see, there's this girl named Misa Amane; she's the Second Kira. A pretty little thing, but her initials don't match. Regardless, there _is _something connecting the Kiras, and you don't know it like I do. In fact, no one knows what I know, not even KC. You see L, she has this thing called a Death Note that allows you to kill people simply by writing their name and picturing their face. Misa was never that bright to begin with, and Rem was more concerned about protecting Misa than she was with me, so all it took was a sleight of hand. A sleight of hand that turned ever table in the world in my favor." Beyond's hand drifted into his pocket as he withdrew a crumpled piece of paper. Keeping a firm grip so that it wouldn't be blown away, the man flattened it on the edge of the roof with his free hand. "I'm unaware if other people can write names in the Death Note, or even if a piece torn from it would work, but I'm tempted to see if I can actually kill you with Kiras' weapon.

"Aren't you?"

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 12 OF SOLITARY CONFINMENT- June 6th<strong>

For some reason, the air felt stuffy. Also, I was wearing another infernal blindfold. You think the first seventeen millions times, L might have gotten the memo.

I took a deep breath. It was all in my head, that was all. I wasn't running low on oxygen, I hadn't been poisoned, and L wasn't going to let his latest amusement die. On second thought... the poison wouldn't have to kill me. Who knew? Maybe this was just some crazy plan to get me to talk. I wouldn't put it past the guy.

After a few good hours of lounging around and debating whether or not to take off my new headgear (since it was about the only thing I _could_ do right now), I finally resorted to humming to myself before my head exploded.

KC + waiting = possible insanity to come

Fun.

As though summoned by my pathetic attempt for self-amusement, the now-familiar crackle echoed through the cell as a mechanical voice droned, "_Ishi-san?_"

"That was Mambo #5, if you were wondering what tone that was," I replied with a sigh.

Completely ignoring my statement, L continued. "_Upon further inspection of your attire, we have found certain elements that may dissuade the public from your claims to innocence._"

"Such as..?"

"_There were multiple pills and vials located within the soles of your shoes: cyanide, nitrous oxide, hydrazine, amobarbital. That alone is hardly the work of an innocent woman._"

I shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say? I like to be prepared."

"_Prepared for what, I wonder._"

"Anything."

Silence fell, and all was still for quite some time.

Hey, at least if the general public didn't like me, I might have somebody worth kicking around the minute I found a way out of this.

Then again, I couldn't walk through walls, much less twenty pounds of chains.

* * *

><p>L rested the bagged dagger atop the cool surface of the table. Many tests had been run, and all of them had confirmed that the entire knife had been carved from pure diamond. Judging by the engravings along the hilt, it certainly wasn't a cheap weapon. Ishi had also been carrying a loaded nine millimeter pistol on her during her capture, as well as exploding bubblegum, acidic glow sticks, and a packet of cigarettes that would severely electrify those who attempted to open the box. Ishi certainly wasn't a woman to mess around with. L slid a doughnut out of the box sitting on his desk as he glanced between the screens in front of him. Light. Misa. Soichiro. Ishi.<p>

Suddenly inspired by the evidence before him, the detective leaned forward and pressed one of the buttons on his laptop. "Watari? If you would, please add a mixture of sodium amytal to Ishi-san's IV."

"_Right away._"

Black eyes glanced at the clock on the screen. It was still within the early hours of the morning. The rest of the Task Force would be arriving soon, but not for another hour at least. L polished off his doughnut and was moving to take another one before a voice drew his eyes back to the screen.

"_Hey, L! Do you play solitaire? You seem like the kind of person who would!_" the woman called out, her head lolling back onto the bar with a lopsided grin. She was wearing yet another blindfold- she seemed to have an uncanny habit of figuring out ways to take them off- but this time, she didn't seem to care.

_The truth serum must have already kicked in. Fascinating. It took only a matter of seconds upon entering the bloodstream, _L licked the icing off of one side before taking a large bite.

"_You know, you don't answer me straight out. Is that normal for you, like a bad habit, or do you do it to screw with people's heads? Would that make it more of a hobby?_" A deep frown was etched on her face, as though she was seriously considering this an important question.

L's eyes flitted over to Misa's screen.

"_Stalker-san, are you there? How much longer are you going to keep Misa here?_"

Neither Light nor his father were doing anything. Soichiro was sound asleep, and Light was hunched over, his back pressed against his bed, his forehead resting on his knees.

_The sixth day of their imprisonment... Misa's ninth... Ishi's twelfth. _Mulling over the same thoughts didn't seem to be doing any good. It wasn't like he hadn't analyzed his current position from every angle. Misa was captured under suspicion of being the Second Kira. Light allowed himself to be held because of his fears of having subconsciously become Kira. Soichiro had had himself locked away before he could become too protective over his son and jeopardize the the case. Ishi... _Broke Backup out of the mental institution, stole millions of dollars worth in items and the identities of civilians, traipsed around the world with various illegal substances whilst being armed, captured and tortured an FBI agent, and then left him alone to die. Despite being under severe accusations, she doesn't appear to care. It's almost as though she's relieved to be caught. Was she trying to find me all along?_

L prodded the button to the microphone and spoke into it in a clear a tone as he could manage. "Ishi-san, can you hear me?"

"_Yep,_" Ishi rolled her shoulders a few times and shifted in her bindings. "_Can you hear me?_"

"Yes. Now, do you mind telling me why you were so intent on pursuing me?"

"_I need your help._"

L leaned forward. He hadn't been expecting that. Well, that was a lie. There had been a twelve percent chance. "What kind of help, Ishi-san?"

"_You mentioned that you couldn't find me in any record in the world..? Well, it has to do with that. Actually, a lot to do with that._" Ishi pursed her lips. "_I don't know where I am._"

_Slight increase in pulse, pupil dilation, perspiration on her forehead- despite being under the influence of the sodium amytal, she's still experiencing nervous anxiety. _"You are in jail."

"_That's not what I mean. More correctly, I don't know _when _I am. Everything's wrong here. The leaders of the world aren't who they should be, technology's gone postal, and none of the people here are the same._"

L's eyes widened slightly as he scrutinized the figure onscreen. _She doesn't know _when _she is? Everything is wrong? No one is the same? _"Ishi-san, did you recently awaken from a coma?"

Her brow furrowed and she didn't reply for a full minute. "_Yes, actually. The doctors said something about having been in the hospital for a month. They had to give me three bags of sugar water a day, and thought I had hypoglycemia. The doctors kept me an extra week. I didn't like the doctors there. They were too paranoid, but my nurse was awesome._"

"What do you remember about your life before the coma?"

The green eyes softened a little. "_It was... familiar. I knew the people there, I knew what I was suppose to do, and nobody asked too many questions. Day in and day out, it was never the same thing twice, but you could always count on the thrills._"

L took another bite of his doughnut. _It's highly probable that Ishi woke from a coma without remembering anything, and her mind faked an identity for herself. However, that wouldn't explain how she's capable of doing half of the things she's accomplished in the past month, as well as how she got ahold of her supplies. Maybe... her brain was injured more severely than she knew._

"Why did you come to me?"

Ishi shrugged. "_I thought you could help me. You're the World's Greatest Detective, right? I saw how you showed up Kira back when you first took up the case. Any person as intelligent as you would be a godsend if they decided to help me understand how we got here in the first place and how to get back._"

L pounced. "We?"

"_Yeah, me and my apprentice, Autumn. Didn't I tell you about her?_" Ishi seemed surprised. "_She's stuck here too._"

* * *

><p><strong>August 2nd<strong>

Beyond ambled through the streets of Tokyo, a bemused smirk plastered on his face. How different everything seemed when, for the first time in a long time, Beyond felt as though he were on top of the world. Granted, he might have gotten a little carried away the previous night, but he certainly felt more like him old self. It had been far too long since he had felt happiness.

_I'm coming, L. Are you worried?_

The streets were packed at midday, but Beyond didn't mind. They just reminded him of all of the hoops he had had to jump through as a kid, the hoops he would soon burn to the ground. No longer would he be insignificant in L's eyes. In fact, he really hoped that L's last impression of him would be a true detective. L had always been wary of his eyes, and had withheld certain attributes that usually went to all possible successors. L would regret ever keeping him in the dark. During his 'Rue Ryuzaki' phase, Beyond had been at a disadvantage. L had kept to himself and used a middleman to run between them.

Naomi Misora. What a stupid girl. Didn't she quit the FBI?

But this wasn't the case he had started. Kira had started this. Without him, KC and Autumn would have never broken him out of that stupid asylum. In an odd way, he would have to thank Kira for setting him free, and for being a constant thorn in L's side until Beyond could find the perfect time to strike.

To think that Kira killed for justice, yet had allowed a cunning a man as him to exact his revenge.

Beyond took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. It was getting longer than he liked- he'd have to cut it when he returned to the hotel- but it would have to do for now. His clothes were as good as finished. They wouldn't last long, especially with all of their rips and stains.

In other words, Beyond Birthday was treating himself to a shopping spree.

All around him, venders called to the crowds in loud voices. Families plundered through the throng, the children dancing around the adult's feet. Couples held hands and shot indiscreet looks at one another. People stood off to one side, cell phone pressed up against their head, Japanese flowing from their mouths in hoarse voices.

Then there was him, Beyond Birthday, who observed them all.

Out of the corner of his eye, a familiar sight drew him off of the street and into the quaint bookstore. The place was musty, and more than a few years in need of a thorough dusting, but the book in the window seemed to call to him, and he didn't bother looking around before approaching it.

Akazukin Chacha.

"Hello there," Beyond intoned softly, picking up the manga.

_You read Red-Hooded Chacha? _Trey's voice floated up out of the back of his mind.

_I liked it well enough when I was younger. _Beyond turned the book over in his hands. Volume one. Perfect.

_You read a manga about the Japanese take on Little Red Riding Hood. _Trey conjured a broad smirk inside of B's mind.

_This version is much more entertaining._

_I fail to see how a book about a witch with a red hood, a werewolf, and a wizard is considered 'entertaining' to someone like you._

Beyond raised an eyebrow. _I didn't take you as one obsessed with stereotypes. It appears as though my deduction of you was slightly flawed._

Trey snorted. _Are you saying that _I'm_slightly flawed? Look in the mirror, psycho._

Ah. That wasn't being stereotypical; that was resentment caused by loyalty to KC. Beyond nodded to himself and glanced down at the table. There were a few more volumes stacked in neat piles behind the display.

_Do you have to look at everything like you're detached? _Trey grumbled. _You _are _a human being, even if you are a raving lunatic._

_I do believe that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me._

_Don't get use to it._

With a hint of a smile on his face, Beyond fished the security device out of the pages of the book, lobbed the object into a nearby waste bin, and pocketed the novel. He was in the mood for a nostalgic read.

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 13- June 7th<strong>

When I next awoke, my head was killing me. Groaning softly, I twisted around, attempting to remove my skull from whatever had impaled it, but to no avail. It still felt like I'd been hit by a train. Wait, no. Not a train. L had used some sort of truth serum on me.

Now I wish I'd been hit by the train.

My throat clenched tightly as my thoughts slowly became coherent enough for me to piece together what had happened. It was a little foggy, but the end result was clear: L had gotten more than enough information out of me.

Autumn was in danger.

Well schist.

I slammed my head back against the bar, welcoming the pain. Physical pain I could deal with, but this feeling of complete and utter _helplessness _would have to go. Soon. If I stayed here any longer, I knew I would lose my mind.

Or whatever's left of it, anyways.

And of course, what really sold the deal was that L had probably arrested me under the charge of "illegal immigrant," but now he had access to everything I had had on me at the time of my capture, and thus enough evidence to hand me a life sentence in this retched pit.

I only had myself to blame.

I took a deep breath. _You will not go insane. You will not go insane. You will not go insane. _Hey, at least our friendly, neighborhood detective didn't tie me to a chair. Being stuck _sitting _until I was eighty was a sure way to guarantee my brain's implosion. Also, my identity wasn't on record, so I technically didn't exist. You can't get in trouble for torturing a person who doesn't exist.

I had a feeling that truth serum was just the beginning.

* * *

><p><strong>August 2nd (still)<strong>

Beyond's eyes flickered over the pages, the gears in his mind spinning furiously as the Japanese kanji slowly melted into his native tongue. Chacha danced across the pages, a bright grin on her face as she chased the blue and white wolf pup across the snow, another boy in close pursuit. Each picture flowed smoothly into the next, a river of childish sights and wonders. Characters' names floated up from his memory as soon as he saw their faces. With every chapter, the man could feel the corners of his mouth beginning to turn upwards, despite himself. Before he knew it, he had finished the first two volumes, and was halfway through the third- and Autumn ambled back into the hotel room.

Beyond quickly stuffed the book under the pillow behind him.

To his surprise, the girl didn't say a word as she crossed the room towards the window. She rubbed her forehead, a frown etched on her young face.

"Headache?" he guessed.

"Yeah..." Autumn mumbled, flopping down in the rickety wicker chair. "Has KC come back?"

Beyond held back a sarcastic retort. "No."

Autumn huffed and wiggled around until her back was pressed against one arm rest, her legs draped across the other. "When d'you think she'll come back? It's been a few days."

The schizophrenic didn't reply. He was itching to pull his book back out, but he wasn't too keen on letting anyone in on his past, not even a six-year-old girl.

"I mean, what if Kira got her? Or L?" she bit her lip, then her eyes flew wide open. "What if the cops caught her? What if she ran out because she was trying to lead them away, or something? Or she got herself killed? Do you think she's with Misa? What if Misa killed her? Or maybe-"

"Would you like for me to check if she's dead?" asked Beyond tersely.

Autumn's mouth dropped. "Nuh uh! You can do that? Show me!"

Beyond heaved himself off of the bed and sauntered over to KC's bag, withdrawing the graphire. "I just need a picture of her. If I can't see her name or lifespan..." he trailed off. Autumn nodded.

"But if you're wired to the graphire, can't you just look back into your own memories?" the girl cocked her head like a dog, and the chair gave a precarious creak.

Beyond shook his head. "I would still see the information. It is a memory after all. I would see it as I previously had."

"Oh... Well what are you waiting for?"

Without speaking, B looked down at the screen, only for him to hold the iPad4 up to the light with a disbelieving gaze. The seemingly indestructible screen had a deep crack in it that cleaved it from corner to corner. Beyond blinked. In KC's memories, the woman had tested the graphire durability by beating it with a _sledgehammer_. If that hadn't so much as dulled the paint job, what on earth could have cut such a mark into it?

Storing the odd occurrence into the back of his mind, B turned on the iPad with a single thought and ran a quick scan of the pictures on the hard drive.

"She's alive," he confirmed.

"YAY!" Autumn punched the air with her fist. The wicker chair let out another mournful bale. "But where do you think she is?"

Beyond didn't quite hear the last question, as he was too preoccupied with the single function that remained running, despite having already closed everything.

It was a document.

_He Who Knows Me Best_

**_Dawn_**

_I glanced over at the woman who crouched next to me, her sapphire-blue eyes narrowed in concentrating. President of the United States of America Susan Robinson, also head of the mafia. We had been best friends in school, but this wasn't school. Real life is a rude awakening, I tell you._

Dark brown eyes widened as Beyond continued to skim over the writing.

_One of the downsides of being one of the best investigators in the world is that you're always on the move. There's always going to be someone hunting you, big or small. The minute you stay still, __boom!__You're dead. So another hotel it was. I dropped my single suitcase onto the bed and murmured into the com unit, "Shar, you swept the room, correct?"_

_I stared at her, my brain slowly going over the details. __It would only make since to take her on. Then again, Susan's trying to kill two birds with one stone here: improving my social skills and tolerance for young children, and training a future KC, all at the same time.__To her, it was foolproof. Unless I killed the kid first. The russet-haired girl with spinning wildly in the chair, limbs flailing around as she let loose high-pitched squeals that were threatening to shatter my eardrums. _

_Oh, jeez...__I momentarily look control over Trey and peered over the edge of the desk to watch as the girl fiddled with the wires. She looked like she knew what she was doing, so I released my hold and took a few paces forward so I could watch over her shoulder. _

It was a story. A story being written on the graphire, based off of the stimuli received from KC's collar, and edited by Trey. Beyond sat down on the edge of the bed as he went back over the first chapter more thoroughly. And the second. And the third. And the fifth. Suddenly, B found himself on chapter twenty, staring down at the blinking cursor as it darted across the screen, letters and punctuation spewing from it as he read.

He is reading this very sentence.

Beyond jolted backwards. _That _was creepy as hell. How in the world..? He leaned over the graphire's screen, unintentionally sliding into his 'L pose.' Resting the iPad on his knees, the man probed the document with an experimental finger.

'Jam.'

The schizophrenic eyed the word he had added to the story. Trey didn't seem to be editing it out. Did that mean that he could also add his own words to the story? As intriguing as that may have been, the man had a more urgent problem to address.

If the story was being filtered based off of what it observed through KC, then how was it still typing up everything?

BB reread the last two chapters, slowly absorbing everything he had gathered. Somehow, some way, KC was in June seventeenth, but he and Autumn were in August second _at the same time_. The man shook his head. This was beyond weird now. People from other universes, and now parallel time streams? What was this, Doctor Who? Did that mean that by this date in KC's version of reality, she was already wearing her collar, thus enabling the connection? Or maybe it was simply because all of time was tearing itself apart?

-But then, if the graphire was still connected to KC, and Beyond could insert his own words into the story...

A wicked grin lit up his pale face as he pulled up the keyboard again.

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 14- June 8th<strong>

_I am a sausage made from dancing jalapenos and egg whites._

I promptly stiffened as an all-too-familiar voice echoed within my mind. _TREY? How the heck-_

_My apologies, but he's off in a corner pouting. I would be more than happy to take a message._

I stood/hung/existed-chained-upright, trying to fight off sleep's grasp as my drowsy mind attempted to process this new information. Trey's- no, _someone's _voice was oddly mechanical. It wasn't like L's- filtered and pitched- but simply monotonous, as though all emotion had been removed from each line.

The speaker in front of me revived itself. "_Ishi-san? Is everything alright?_"

Well, golly gee. Let's see. I'm tried to what feels like a hand truck, are more than a little parched, have recently been drugged and endangered the lives of the only people I trust- AHEM- _almost _trusted, have lost all of my fancy gadgets and doohickeys, and now I have an odd voice talking into my mind that _sounds _like Trey, but isn't. And I was sleeping so peacefully, which I seemed to be doing a lot of lately.

"Odd dream," I fibbed, shuffling in my binds. "I didn't know vacuum cleaners could be that versatile."

There was silence from both ends (how weird that sounds...).

_Trust me. It looks extremely weird from my end._

_And what end would that be? _I thought snidely.

_*facepalm*_

I blinked a few times under the blindfold. Really? Did freaky voice really just use an asterisk?

_So it's Mr. Dark and Mysterious Freaky Voice now? I think I prefer mind-amoeba._

_..._Holy mother of god.

The heart monitor was certainly getting a workout.

"_Ishi-san? You appear to be going into shock._"

_Funny thing I found on the graphire. Something titled 'He Who Knows Me Best.' It's a very interesting piece. I strongly recommend it to you sometime._

I could barely keep my gaping to a minimum.

_If you keep gaping like a fish, L might put something else in your IV._

_Beyond..?_

_No. _I could practically feel the sarcasm leaking through the connection. Speaking of...

_How on God's green earth are you talking to me? Have I truly lost my ever-loving mind?_

_Unfortunately not. One usually has to have a mind before they are capable of losing it. Actually, I just figured out that I could add to this story of yours, and I deducted that typing whilst it was currently active in your point of view, I might be able to contact you._

_I'm not wearing the collar. _I frowned. _How-_

_It's August second where I am, but the graphire tells me that it's still July for you._

_What?!_

_It's odd, but it's almost as if_

I waited a minute, but it was as though his entire train of thought had just dropped off of the planet, like he had stopped talking and gone into a trance. _B? _Oddly enough, not even L's speaker was on. Maybe he had gotten bored with my slightly petrified state.

_Slightly petrified?_

I sighed. _Drats. You had to go and get my hopes up. _A part of me had secretly hoped that he had walked off a cliff.

_I saw that._

Oh, wait. If he's reading the document as the graphire's typing it up, then Beyond has access to anything and everything I think, regardless of what I try to filter.

Crap.

_I must find a way to project facial expressions; I don't foresee myself using *smirks* as an adequate replacement._

_Said Beyond Birthday. _I shook my head a little, just enough to where it would look like I was trying to get comfy. _Now, what was that you were saying?_

_Ah, yes. You see, we appear to be running on two different time streams at the same time._

Schizophrenic say what now?

_Have you ever seen Doctor Who?_

I snorted. _Sure, but it's not exactly one of my favorites._

_Why not?_

Between my lack of expression or voice fluctuation to go on, I had no idea whether the guy was actually curious, or just mocking me. _Someone I knew was completely obsessed with that show. After seeing every episode twenty-some times, a person can get pretty sick of 'allons-y!' Besides, we have more important things to talk about, like say, how time is all screwed up?_

There was a small pause before the voice floated back into my mind. _Autumn and I are currently in August second, but you are in July eighth. It would appear as though L is as well. You see, we're ahead of you time-wise, but I'm talking to you at the same time you're talking to me. Also, we have already skipped ahead in time, however, you were not included. Despite the obvious time difference, we are still able to communicate._

_...That makes no sense._

_I'm constructing plausible explanations for the phenomenon, but have none worth mentioning at this point. Point being, we are still able to talk._

Whoop dee freaking doo. At least I wouldn't have to talk to myself anymore. _Amuse me. I have time. It's not like I'm going anywhere._

Another small pause. _You and Autumn are from another universe, correct? Thus there are two of you, and two time lines running parallel to one another._

_Wait, I'm already lost._

_Yet you consider yourself intelligent._

I bit back a short reply. Here I am, tied against my will, and he's critiquing my intelligence. Great. It's not like I have a degree in the space-time continuem.

_Think of it this way: anything and everything that could ever and will ever exist- is now a notebook._

_Okay, _I said doubtfully.

_Your universe is a sheet of paper, and mine is a separate sheet of paper. Two different pieces of paper, but all in the same notebook. Now, every page has a back. I believe that one of us may be on the back side of the piece of paper._

_Would it kill you to speak English?_

I could almost imagine the man's incredulous look, but I seriously wasn't getting any of this. Maybe. I really didn't know.

_Every universe is a piece of paper._

_Got that._

_Every paper has a back._

_Yep._

_When you arrived, you were on the same side of the paper as me. When we skipped ahead in time, we jumped to the other side of the paper._

_So we changed universes._

_No. We changed... worlds, if you will. Interconnecting realities that run parallel to each other. What happens in one affects the other, but not the other sheets of paper. Like how when you draw with a pen, sometimes you can see the ink on the other side. It bleeds through, but not all the way to another piece of paper, another universe. Somehow, when you got captured-_

_Hey! Don't rub it in._

_I wasn't, now let me finish. Somehow, when you got captured, you broke back through to the other side of the paper._

_So I'm on the front of the paper?_

_And Autumn and I are on the back._

_Now that you mentioned it, L seemed to think that we broke you out of the asylum roughly a month before he had me abducted, _I mused. _But that still doesn't fit your notebook theory. We were already traveling for quite a while before we jumped in time, and it wasn't that far ahead._

_It's a work in progress._

_Ugh. This is making my head hurt._

_That could be the aftereffects of the drugs._

I would so introduce my fist to his face the next time I saw him.

_Don't bite the hand that feeds you. I'm your only link to the outside world, regardless of which reality we're in._

_Wait, then what happens if one of us were to jump sides again? Would we lose contact?_

_Perhaps. I suppose that in the future, you are already wearing you collar, thus enabling our current situation. Until I am able to concoct a stronger hypothesis, I will monitor this side of the paper unless something catches my attention._

_You'll keep me updated? _It wasn't like I was desperate to hear that emotionally dead monotone (that fitted him so well, now that I think about it), but two weeks with no one albeit me, myself, and I for company wasn't exactly good my sanity, or what hadn't already diminished itself.

_No, I'll leave you to fend for yourself._

Missed you too, jerk.

* * *

><p><em>It was dark when the ten-year-old slid the door shut behind her, quiet as a mouse. Her shoeless feet padded across the tiled floor, her converses tied together and slung across her shoulder. Blood dripped from a cut above her brow, but she wiped it away with her free hand. More aches and pains ran the length of her body, but she wore them with pride. The girl's green eyes peered around the house, unfazed by the darkness. The television was on in the living room; she could hear see the faint light streaming in through the doorway to the left. The volume was turned down low, but she didn't worry about being heard. No one in their right mind would still be awake at three in the morning, not even that strange man.<em>

_Tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, the girl slipped through the kitchen into the foyer. Her footsteps died away as carpet nibbled away at the decibels. She was almost to the stairs..._

_"__Going to bed so soon?"_

_Swearing under her breath, the girl turned away from the stairs, but made no move towards the living room. "How do you always know everything?" she grumbled, just loud enough to be heard over the television._

_"__You could start by _not _locking the door behind you." Amusement echoed in the man's voice._

_Huffing loudly, the girl peeped through the open doorway between the living room and the foyer. The strangle man was stretched out on the couch, his bare feet propped up on a mound of pillows shoved to the end. His wore no shirt, exposing his muscular chest, the skin stripped with age-old scars. A chain was wound through the belt loops of his baggy camouflage pants, the cargo pockets bulging with the unknown. Dark ginger hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, a few stray wisps framing a pale face with stubble. On the floor next to him sat a half-eaten bowl of popcorn, butter drizzled over the few kernels she could see. Much to the girl's surprise, the man's signature sunglasses were sitting on the worn stool next to the sofa. As soon as she slid into the doorway, the man glanced up at her with a quirky expression._

_"__Did you win?" he asked, glancing at the television._

_"__Did I win what?" the girl shot back. _And how did he know? s_he wondered. The strange man always seemed to know what she was doing, no matter where she was._

_The man's eyes rolled back to her. "The fight. Unless you're planning on telling me that you silently fell down the stairs and somehow rolled into the kitchen." He pointed to his forehead; the girl reached up and touched her own, wincing as pain lashed out at her again._

_"__What do you care?" she muttered, crossing her arms and letting her purple converses drop to the floor._

_"__I don't," he shrugged. "Just curious."_

_The girl stared at him. She had lived with so many people during her ten years in the foster system, but not a one of them had been so... passive. Usually, she was yelled at for the simplest of things- accidentally making a mess, forgetting things here and there- but here, she could practically do whatever she wanted, as long as she told the strange man. If she didn't, he would usually figure it out and make her feel as though she were two feet tall. The freedom was welcoming, but not the sleight of hand used to belittle her._

_"__Yeah, I won. Sent all three boys running all the way down Sunnyside Road," she boasted with a smirk. If he wanted to know exactly what she was up to, she would be glad to tell him._

_"__Hmm... and what of the fourth?"_

_Her jaw dropped. It was all the girl could do not to pick up her converses and beat him over the head with them. How in the world did he figure these things out so easily? She snapped her jaw shut with a snap. "There wasn't a fourth. Just those three whiny babies," she retorted through clenched teeth, kicking her converses out into the middle of the floor._

_"__'Those three whiny babies' gave you some pretty nasty marks," he pointed out, retrieving his sunglasses from the stool with one hand, and using the other to drop off of the couch and snag a small handful of popcorn._

_"__Well, they were asking for it," the girl shuffled her feet._

_The strange man chuckled wryly and turned the glasses over and over in the palm of his hand. "There are some bandages in the cabinet over the bathroom sink."_

_"__I don't need your help!" she bristled. "Besides, who asked you?"_

_Before the man could reply, the girl turned and stormed up the stairwell. She turned the corner sharply into the bathroom, slamming the door in her wake, the sound echoing throughout the house._

_"__Stupid old man..." she whispered under her breath, wiping away another trail of blood from her face. He couldn't possibly have know there was a fourth kid, so how did he? Was the strange man watching her? It really wouldn't surprise her. If he had been, he would have known why she was fighting in the first place- what she was fighting for. _

_The fourth boy was the one she had been standing up for._

_With a final glance at the door to make sure that the strange man wasn't about to come check on her (like he would even care), the girl hopped up on the toilet seat and leaned over the sink towards the cabinet._

**DAY 17- June 11th**

I bolted upright with a gasp, sweat trickling down my face. The heart monitor beeped at my side, but hearing was all I had at this point; I was still wearing my newest headgear. Taking slow breaths, I tried to slow the pounding in my chest.

I hadn't had that dream in years.

I shook my head, as though the action might toss out the unwanted thoughts. Why did I have that dream now? Is it because I was slowly losing whatever brain cells I had left, and remembering the past was their way of going out with a bang? Sucky bang if you ask me. Maybe L had drugged me again. I really wouldn't put it past the guy.

All-too-familiar static filled the room.

Speak of the devil.

"_Ishi-san, it has been seventeen days since you were imprisoned. Are you ready to confess to being Kira?_"

My head jerked up. "This again?" My groan was mostly real. "Listen, you already forced me to tell you everything, so could you just drop it? Thanks."

There was a hint of a pause before, "_This... _Autumn_... where is she?_"

For a moment, I was glad I was wearing a blindfold. The rage in my eyes would have been a dead giveaway if the heart monitor didn't do that for me. "She won't be where I left her. I've trained her too well. She'll have moved again using an alias. Even if I got out of here, it could take me weeks to track her down again."

The static faded away. I took a deep breath, more from aggravation than relief. It seemed like no matter what angle I tried to play this guy, he either cut me off or found some way to turn my words against me. Had we met under different circumstances, I might have been impressed.

_Once one gets over his antics, that tends to happen._

I felt myself relax considerably. _B. What's new?_

_Kira's disappeared._

I blinked a few times. _Kira _disappeared? _How?_

_Light's stopped killing criminals. Also, Misa has been arrested for possession of illegal drugs. Funny thing is that moments before, students at To-Oh University claimed to have seen them together on campus with one of the other students. Misa was arrested, and Light and the student disappeared a while afterwords._

I frowned as I tried to mull over these thoughts. _Have you checked out the university yet?_

_No, Sherlock. _I could easily imagine him shooting me that deadpan expression of his. _Autumn hacked the police again and pulled the details of Misa's arrest. However, it doesn't list the officers who made the arrest._

_You think they could be part of L's private Task Force?_

His next words were almost smug. _The officers themselves weren't listed on this particular incident. However, the files on the Kira case still have yet to be removed from the system. To dub it down for your mediocre mind, I have the complete list of the cops still working the Kira case._

I was tempted to compliment him until the 'mediocre mind' comment.

_Thank you._

Crap. Forgot he could read everything the graphire wrote. And now I could imagine him smirking as he read that sentence. And now rolling his eyes. No, wait- too much emotion.

_Ha ha. Very funny._

_I thought so, _I smiled to myself.

_You're being oddly docile. You must have already lost your mind, had you one to lose to begin with._

_Oi! I'm not docile! _I retorted. _Since when have I ever been submissive?_

There was a long pause.

_Don't answer that. Nevermind._

_I have never once been docile, myself. It's one of the few things I pride myself on. I have never even been submissive to a traffic signal._

Oh, great. Now I _know_ he read the part where the trash bin and I almost got hit by a car.

_Yes, I did. It was most amusing._

I took a deep breath. _Getting back to the point, _I interjected before we wandered too far off subject, _if Kira's stopped killing, then it's not looking too good for me. When did the killings stop?_

_A few days after you were imprisoned._

_So L would either take that as a delayed reaction, or he assumes that Misa's Kira._

_L doesn't assume. He'll have others under suspicion of being Kira, but he should have already deducted that Misa is the Second Kira. He may have Light in custody as well, but it has no mention of it on the chief's computer._

_Go to To-Oh University, ask around to see if anyone knows what really happened the day Misa was arrested._

There was a pause. _You weren't listening in the slightest to what I just said. I am not submissive to anything or anyone, especially you._

If I were free, I probably would have headed the nearest wall. No. If I were free, I would have been tempted to bash _his _head into the nearest wall. _Please? _I ground out.

_I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you._

_Just reread the damn sentence._

Silence, then: _Say please._

I growled softly, shifting in my binds. I swear, this man would be the death of me- if I didn't kill him first. _Please?_

This pause was longer than the others. _The kid wants to help._

I sighed. Of course. _She's six. _(Or seven. Seriously, when _was_ that child's birthday?) _Surely there's something she can do without putting herself at risk. _If Beyond had been doing his reading, he would already know that it wasn't exactly the best of ideas to go traipsing around in broad daylight. Then again, knowing him, the schizophrenic probably wouldn't care.

_It amuses me to see how you still refer to me on occasion as 'the schizophrenic.'_

_What would you like for me to call you? _I deadpanned.

_If Beyond, or simply B, is too humdrum for your likes, I do believe you were beginning to make a habit of Mr. Dark and Mysterious Somethingorother._

There's a word for people like him, but it's currently slipped my mind. Wait, no. I've got it: _Asshole._

_Mr. Dark and Mysterious Asshole? Tsk. Tsk. That doesn't sound as catchy as your previous versions, nor appropriate for younger ears. Running yourself into an impasse, Katheryn?_

The second I get free, Beyond Birthday is so very, very dead.

* * *

><p><strong>August 4th<strong>

Autumn's head jerked up at the sound of raspy chuckles. The girl's eyes flew wide open as she watched Beyond prod the graphire, a wry smirk on his face. She continued to stare at him as he finished his odd movements; there was a pause as his eyes trailed across the dark screen, a soft snort, and then he resumed his poking. Autumn watched him with a curious gaze. The serial killer hadn't seemed so animate in a while, even when she asked to be put to work. He hadn't replied, but merely tapped the screen with his long, slender fingers in a delicate manner as he maneuvered around the crack. The girl knew that the graphire wasn't dark to him, but even after observing KC work on the thing, Autumn still wasn't use to seeing such an object attract the attention it did. Perhaps he wasn't talking to KC at all, but browsing the Internet for... whatever would interest someone like him.

With a loud moan, Autumn slithered from the end of the couch to the floor with a dull thud. Still, the man crouched in the swivel chair didn't move. Huffing to herself, Autumn scrambled to her feet and picked up the diamond dagger from where it had been resting atop the desk. The weapon glittered in her hand as she raised it to the light. She took a moment to take in the details carved into the hilt, the odd snake-like figure that curled down the flat side of the blade, before taking careful aim and chucking it across the room. The knife sunk into the wall between two wooden boards with deadly accuracy.

Autumn punching the air triumphantly and turned to see what Beyond would say, but he was still couched in his 'L pose,' the graphire resting on his knees as he continued to poke it. Frowning, Autumn ambled across the room, yanking the dagger out of the wall and sinking to the ground, her back pressed up against the wall.

Their newest hideout was an abandoned mechanic's garage in the outskirts of town. It had four rooms: a tiny bathroom (a squared meter, so you could use the bathroom and wash your hands at the same time, much to Autumn's dismay), a side room (where they had chosen to sleep), the attic (which had a low roof and spiders), and the main workshop (which was filled with all sorts of gismos that fascinated Autumn to no end). The girl mostly ambled between the larger room and the dubbed "office" when she wasn't hacking the police station. She would take pleasure in find the manuals for the equipment and reading up on how to work everything. Since they had moved in the previous day, she had already repaired the car jack in the center of the garage, and then tied some odds and ends onto the beams to make sure that it could lift the weight. Today, she was focusing on the crane that had been stuffed away in a corner.

Remembering the crane with air an of exuberance, the girl slipped the knife into her belt and pushed open the door between the office and the workshop. The smell of sawdust slapped her through the face, and Autumn took a moment to be glad that she didn't inherit her parents' allergies.

Her parents.

Autumn's eyes fluttered to the ground as she wove between the mechanical pieces. What would they think of her now? Sure, they both had been in the mafia, but back in her world, the mafia was used to eliminate larger criminals using unorthaboxical methods, or something like that. Sometimes KC would use big words like unorthaboxical in her explanations; Susan had been better at explaining things like that. Then again, Susan didn't really get to do much explaining before shoving her off on KC. What would her parents think about KC? Did they ever meet? A hint of a smile flashed across her face at the idea. She got the impression that they would get along swimmingly.

Swimming... It had been ages since Autumn had gone swimming. Maybe she could swipe some cash from somebody and have B take her to a community pool. But no, KC was still being held captive. She couldn't have fun without her mentor.

Mind set, Autumn finally halted and stared up at the crane with a keen eye. It was a Terex, an older model by the looks of it. Autumn had already dusted it off for a better look, but she was still clueless as to why a crane would be hidden away in the corner of a mechanic's shop. Maybe the guy couldn't repair it and stuffed it away. Out of sight, out of mind? Then again, it was kinda hard to hide something that big. Regardless, most cranes were twice its size. This one could still fit in a two-story building, even though it was compacted and looked as though it might tip over at any moment. The tires were worn by friction and time alike, odd scores running down the side of the wheels, as though someone has tried to pry the caps off by force. The glass had been busted out of one side and the paint was chipping here and there, the remaining white having slowly turned yellow. The bright red T-E-R-E-X was printed just under the grill, but was a little hard to read until the deep scarlet stains splattered all over the front end. The marks smelled weird, like Sharpie, but the inside of the cabin just plain reeked. French fries were strewn all over the inside, stains played havoc on the ripped covers of the seats, and the steering wheel was danging by its wires.

Autumn took a deep breath as she heaved herself in through the door she had left hanging open. She had a lot of work to do if she wanted to get this thing operational, but there was something she wanted to check first. Opening the glove compartment, Autumn pulled her laptop (yes, it was now considered hers) out as she settled herself in the seat. The screen lit up as she typed in the extensive password. It took mere moments for the the harddrive to become fully functional, but Autumn was pounding away at the keyboard long before then. Hazel eyes narrowed as the girl's finger trailed across the mouse pad.

"KC, where are you..?" she murmured under her breath.

* * *

><p><em>PSYCH! And you all thought that Beyond was lost. Silly readers! :P Well, at least the plot is going somewhere, which is better than I'd hoped for. Also, I tried to get the crew out of those hotels they always seem to find themselves in. I mean, they're suppose to be pickpocketing all the money they're currently using, and staying in hotels in the middle of Tokyo is more than expensive. Plus, I like car garages, and have no clue why. I guess Autumn's fascination of the mechanical marvels come from my own curiosity. And no, I will not flat-out tell you who who the couch-slug was in KC's dream. ;) I'll just leave his identity a secret, but feel free to guess in reviews!<br>_

_**Notes:** _cyanide is concentrated poison, nitrous oxide is a sedative that's more commonly known as the laughing gas when given in large doses, hydrazine is the official term for a concentrated mixture of ammonia and bleach (which forms toxic gas when exposed to each other), amobarbital is what they use to put in old-style truth serum but is illegal to use nowadays.__

_So, what do you all think about the latest installment? Too details, not organized, hard to read? Just tell me. Your critique improves my writing, and some of your comments crack me up. I'll get around to answering reviews when I have more free time (if I ever get any), so expect a long author's note at the beginning of chapter twenty-one. Au revoir!_


	21. Strange and Stranger

_On the bright side, my immense amount of homework hasn't caused me to kick the bucket. Yet. DX On the downside, this chapter is roughly 3,600 words long. Ironically enough, the majority of this chapter is from Beyond's POV. (Shout out to a friend who knows who they are: See? I did it! :P) I think I'm started to get the hang of writing in third person! Anywho- I hope you all don't sue me for the length (or lack thereof)._

_The only thing I own are the twenty pounds of paperwork I _should_ be doing and stop procrastinating._

* * *

><p><strong>Strange and Stranger<strong>

_Sunlight streamed in through the window on the eastern most side of the house, rays of its elegance falling into the kitchen of a run-down, two-story house in Arizona. The house was a soft shade of yellow, its shingles covered in dark tar. The shutters were drawn over a few of the windows on the lower floor, except for the side facing the rising sun. The girl sat slumped over in the chair at the kitchen table. Her cereal was drowning in the bowl of milk, which she lazily mixed with the spoon she poked in circles around the bowl. Long black hair was drawn back from her face and held in place by a small clip, but a few loose stragglers hung in front of her eyes, which she took an odd sort of pleasure in blowing out of her face in rhythm. She was clad in a silky tank top, ripped blue jeans, and combat boots, a red and purple battle collar loosely hanging from her neck. A flesh slash stretched across the back of her left hand, but the blood had long since clotted._

_Across the table from her sat a man with blonde hair, the locks falling freely around his serious face all the way down to his collar bone as he peered down at the newspaper spread out across his end of the table. His military jacket was draped across his shoulders over a rugged-looking shirt and baggy jeans. His feet were bare, one foot tucked under him, the other propped up so that he could rest his arm upon his knee. The man's sunglasses perched on his nose, obscuring his eyes, but for some reason, the girl could always seem to tell which direction he was looking; she could feel when he was looking at her._

_"__You didn't have to do it," she burst out, unable to stay silent any longer. "I could have stopped them myself."_

_"__By stopping dead in the middle of the road?" The man turned the page, and reached up to stir his coffee sitting on the counter behind him. "That's an excellent way to get run over, but I don't believe you wanted to become an artist, much less the painting."_

_"__I was going to shoot out the stupid tires," she hissed, crossing her arms. "It's not like I haven't used a gun before."_

_The strange man offered no reply as he scanned the contents of the paper. The girl's eyes narrowed. Four months. Four months she had stayed with him, and she was still unable to figure out what made him tick. He hadn't sent her away, but she had a feeling that once she did manage to understand him better, she would find herself shipped back to the place she loathed almost more than new families._

_"__And where did you learn to do that, anyways?"_

_"__Do what?" he asked without looking up._

_"__You know. With the knives."_

_The man glanced up from the paper, a tinge of surprise on his face. "You don't know how?" It was almost a statement._

_"__No," the girl bit out._

_The man regarded her with a scrutinizing gaze before folding up the newspaper. "That simply won't do," he said in an humorous tone, getting to his feet. The girl watched him warily as he ambled over to the front door, slipping a dagger out from under his belt. She stared at the weapon, which seemed to sparkle under the light when the sun hit it. When the younger made no move to follow suit, the man prompted, "Lead in your shoes?"_

_"__Yeah," the girl rolled her eyes. They were _combat boots _for a reason. Heaving a dramatic sigh, she pushed herself to her feet and took the longest two steps of her life to reach the stranger man's side. He raised an eyebrow, bu didn't comment on her odd attempt to mimic a split._

_"__Depending on how familiar you are with your blade, and whatever's most comfortable, determines how you'll hold it. Some prefer to grasp the hilt, others like the blade itself," he held out his hand, showing her his grip. It didn't look especially hard to hold, though the girl could see through parts of the dagger which distracted her slightly. "You try."_

_Shock blossomed on the girl's face as the man produced an identical dagger from seemingly thin air and extended it towards her. She took it with a sharp look at the man, who seemed as indifferent as ever. The knife was light in her hands, and the blade and hilt were made of the same substance- no, there was no difference between the two, they were two parts of the original piece._

_"__What's this made of anyways?" she asked dubiously, squinting down at it. "How come I can see through parts of it?"_

_"__Diamond."_

_She blinked a few times. "You mean, this entire thing is made of... diamond?"_

_He nodded with a crooked smile. "It doesn't set off the metal detectors."_

_"__Jesus Christ," she whispered under her breath. "What else's the army taught you?"_

_"__The army?" he choked back a laugh._

_"__Duh. Half the stuff you wear is military junk or makes you look like you're depressed," the girl put her hands on her hips, taking extra precautions not to stab herself in the side._

_A devious grin curled the corners of his mouth. "The law and I don't exactly see eye to eye. I suppose that makes two of us."_

_The girl was suddenly torn between running away screaming from this raving lunatic, or just outright hugging this strange man. Instead, she opted for, "I have a name, you know."_

_"__I do know, but what would you like for me to call you?"_

_She paused. No one had ever asked for her opinion before on such a matter. Until now, she never really realized that she had yet to call out anyone on what they called her. Heck, she didn't usually stay around long enough for them to learn her name._

_"__Call me... KC," she said with a smile._

_A sudden light seemed to explode behind the sunglasses and his look softened into genuine smile. "Very well."_

_"__Wait, what do I call_ you?_"_

_The smile melted into a deadpan expression. "You don't know my name?"_

_"__I never bothered to listen," she retorted sharply. "Besides, people usually send me back long before I bother to care."_

_"__For what it's worth, the name I used to adopt you was an alias; you may call me whatever you like."_

_The girl stared up at the man. Despite her new freedoms, this man's ways were beyond odd, though she had to admire them a little. "Well, what name _did _you adopt me under?"_

_A wry smile. "Lucifer Strange."_

_She eyed him curiously. "That is _so_ not your real name."_

_Return of the quirky grin. "Not in the slightest."_

_At that exact moment, the girl decided that she liked this Lucifer Strange._

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 21 OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT- June 15th<strong>

I awoke with a jolt that sent the chains rattling. Pain laced my joints as I squirmed viciously in place. Jeez, another dream? Like I didn't have enough to deal with already. It made me wonder: if Beyond could read everything on the graphire, was it somehow recording my dreams as well, because that would majorly suck.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to calculate what day it was off of the top of my head, and was failing miserably until You Know Who decided it was time to have another "talk" with his favorite captive. Then again, I probably would have preferred the real Voldemort.

"_It had been twenty-one days since you imprisonment, Ishi-san. Would you be willing to confess?_"

So that would make this, what? June fifteenth? Sixteenth? My head lolled as I tried to shove of my weariness. "I just woke up, L. Can it wait?" I didn't bother to keep grumpiness from infiltrating my voice. The guy just couldn't seem to take a hint otherwise. Scratch that. He couldn't take a hint to save his life.

The speaker became very quiet, very fast.

This game of his was becoming very tiring, very fast.

Sighing, I called out, "L, what's it going to do to convince you that I'm not Kira, nor am I am league with Kira?"

"_Regardless of whether or not I concern your supposed innocence, you have still broken a many a laws in the United States and Japan. You will remain in prison until you confess to your wrongdoings, and then you will await your return flight to America to answer for your crimes in court._" The reply was instant, which surprised me.

Still, something sounded fishy. "So you're telling me that if I made an official confession to theft, breaking and entering, initializing and abetting the escape of an imprisoned criminal, trespassing, and unlicensed carriage of a firearm that you'd _willing_ let me go back to the States?"

"_You would be 'let go' into custody of the United States Department of Justice, but otherwise, yes._"

Well, call me Charlie. I barked out a laugh. "Turning over suspects from an active case doesn't really strike me as your style, L. Perhaps I've misjudged you."

"_Aiding injustice for a woman who fears it is just as miscellaneous._"

"Touche," I smiled softly.

_For a woman who prides herself on her 'snappy one-liners,' you appear to be losing this verbal sparring match._

Look who's late to the party.

_Well, gee. Thanks, Backup. If your so clever, have any tips? _I thought in annoyance.

Before I could hear Beyond's reply, the speaker emitting a horrid scream of feedback that left my head reeling. Wincing as my head pounded, I used the bar behind my head to knock the strap from the top of my head and shove the blindfold down my face again. Sweat trickled out from under my bangs as I shook my aching head.

_I swear he's trying his best to drive me insane._

_I do believe I was under the impression that that was my job._

_Jealous? _Sarcasm dripped from my tone.

I received no answer from either man for the longest time.

* * *

><p><strong>August 8th<strong>

Autumn's heart leaped into her throat. Breath hitched, the girl peered down at her laptop screen with undivided attention. How could she have let this slip past her? How?

She knew how. During all of her worry over KC and fixing this stupid crane, she had completely forgotten about L's little building project. The completed building project. Which he had been using since the first.

Groaning to herself, Autumn pounded away at the keyboard, bringing up the surveillance cameras she herself had placed around the building. Like clockwork, she could see when each police officer made his way into L's hideout, and when they left. With a quick glance around her, she shut the laptop and slipped it into her bag. The coffee shop was moderately crowded for ten in the morning, but she didn't want to chance anyone getting a peek of her screen.

She couldn't afford to be captured. Not before she relayed the tapes to Beyond.

* * *

><p>Beyond frowned as he discarded the graphire on the desk. Jealous? Him? He had to admit, it hurt that the only reason he was free was because the woman was impulsive, insane, and held a begrudging amount of respect for L.<p>

And she was still seeking his help.

Hatred soiled Beyond's thoughts every time that man's name came up. After everything he had gone through to prove that he wasn't just L's replacement, that he was his own person, he would always live in the detective's shadow. KC was living proof. She could have asked for _his _opinion on what had happened. She could have turned to _him _first, but no. She wanted the best of the best, and L had bested Beyond one too many times for KC's liking. Did the woman voice this aloud? No. But she didn't need to. Beyond Birthday still had access to her memories.

Regardless, he still couldn't break into that single sphere of darkness in her mind. No matter what methods he used, the ten-year-old to twenty-one-year-old KC remained hidden from him.

But then she had had the dream.

Lucifer Strange.

It was ironic, really, how she referred to him as 'the strange man' before she ever knew his name. Even though he had only appeared as a single block of italics on the graphire's screen, Beyond found himself intrigued with this odd man. In the beginning of _He Who Knows Me Best_, KC had mentioned that of the many people who knew her real name, only four were still alive: Susan Robinson, the Vice President, Trey, and her teacher. Though Lucifer never called KC by name, Beyond was suspicious of his questionable demeanor.

Also, seeing KC's lack of emotional control as a child would make for excellent blackmail.

Sepia eyes glanced around the small office as Beyond forced his knees away from his chest. Funny, how he loathed L with such a passion, yet he still retained his habits of old. Imitating the "tutor" he never saw face-to-face might have been what allowed him to keep himself afloat back in Los Angeles, but he honestly had no use for them now. He couldn't feel that forty percent difference when he sat normally. Then again, even if he sat normally, people still regarded him as an outcast, the boy with strange eyes.

They never understood, not a one of them. No one knew what it was like to see names and lifespans as easily as the sky above. Nothing was kept secret from him, not even as a child. Since birth, Beyond Birthday had been cursed to know everything, forevermore.

Beyond Birthday: death beyond birth.

He was surrounded by death. Try as he might, he couldn't escape it. Always knowing who would die, who would live- he could hardly stand it. Time had gnawed away at his sanity until he had been pushed over the edge.

Alternate.

Beyond could remember when he was twelve, sitting in his room and watching A leave with that sad smile he always wore when he knew that the two friends would have to bid farewell. This time, it was goodbye for the final time. The numbers above his head had dwindled to a startling amount. Beyond Birthday sat in his room, counting down the seconds until he heard the thump from the room next door. It was that first and only night that the boy had cried himself to sleep.

The following morning, the caretaker had pulled him aside and sent him to the head of the orphanage, Rodger, who had seen Beyond's reaction on the one of many cameras placed around Wammy's House. They knew that Beyond had somehow known what was about to happen, and the boy of twelve had been too grief-stricken to resist. He told them everything about his eyes, what he was capable of, and how it had always been like this. Afterwords, he was never treated the same. The other kids sensed the change in the adults and kept their distance, but it was never enough; he could still see their names and lifespans from where he stood in the shadows.

His mother. His father. His brother and sisters. And A. All of them dead, and not a thing he could do to stop it. And all the "gifted" children could do was call him strange.

A few years after Alternate's death, B left Wammy's. Using his training and logic, it wasn't too hard for him to make his ways towards Los Angeles where he planned to exact his revenge on the man who killed A. A wouldn't have died if he hadn't felt pressured to become the new L, he wouldn't have killed himself, and he might have been Beyond's first real friend. None of that would happen now, it never would, but L was still out there. What did he think about A's death? Did he even acknowledge that Alternate was gone? Did he cry? No. He wouldn't. He would sit, hunched over, and state the statistics about A's passing.

L may have been a so-call "great" detective, but he certainly wasn't a person. When Beyond had killed his first victim, it had been a man who had been going to die. If B couldn't extend the lifespans of everyone he saw, the least he could do was give them a painless death. He had carved a hint on the man's back, a clue leading towards his next victim; L would instantly know it was Beyond, but he couldn't call out his old protege without exposing his own acts of treachery. L couldn't catch B without letting the world know about Wammy's House, the place where his first child had committed suicide, and the fact that the marvelous detective himself had turned a blind eye to Alternate.

If the public knew the real L, they would never turn to him for help again.

Somewhere during his reign, Beyond's grip on reality slipped. It took him years in federal prison to realize this, but a day didn't go by that he didn't regret losing touch with the real world. That insanity had cost him dearly. L was never drug out from behind that letter he hid, and Beyond didn't rid himself of his eyes. Instead, he was locked away with other inmates: murders, the criminally insane. And every day, he was forced to look these people in the eye and know that he was no better.

A would have been ashamed.

Beyond's eyes trailed down his arms and the scars that marred his skin. He had come so close, yet been so far off. He was free now, but to do what? He couldn't resume his killings, not when L had KC. As much as he hated to admit it, KC and Autumn were the first people who had approached him without fear or disgust in their eyes. They too hid behind lies and aliases, had skeletons in their closets. Autumn was still a kid, much as Beyond had been at the time, but it was KC whom he could relate to so well. She feared the lashings of betrayal, and thus never trusted anyone long enough to form bonds. Her dreams alone made that clear. Beyond had also been an orphan, betrayed and an outcast, and had been taken in by someone he didn't trust at first. It wasn't until A died that Beyond began to resent L and everything he stood for, but this Lucifer Strange was completely hidden from B. Lucifer Strange was hidden behind that dark block in KC's memories. Was he the mentor KC despised so badly, or had there been someone else who had torn her heart to pieces?

He couldn't lose her, nor Autumn. Not like he had lost A. And especially not to L.

A pale hand reached into his pocket and withdrew the piece of the Death Note he had torn from Misa's notebook. If he could see L, only for a few seconds, he could end this here and now. Not only that, but he would kill L with the same weapon that the Kiras used. The irony might make up for his first failure.

No. He couldn't lose himself to the bloodlust again.

He crumpled up the scrap and shoved it back in his pocket, and for the first time in a long time, Beyond Birthday allowed a single tear to run down his face.

"RUE!"

Beyond practically cleared the desk with his jolt as Autumn exploded into the room. He barely had time to wipe his face clean as she launched her tote-bag onto the desk and began to dig frantically through it. Instead of questioning her, Beyond had learned that it was best to let the kid do the work for him.

Autumn jerked her laptop out of the bag and flipped it open, pounding the password into the keyboard before spinning the computer around for Beyond. She jabbed the screen with a finger, but was panting so hard that she could barely wheeze out, "L... moved into... building." It was a video on fast-forward. B watched in awe as pixelated people dashed in and out of the building like clockwork.

"When?" he asked sharply, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

"Eight days ago. And look here!"

Beyond's eyes widened as she slammed her finger down on the enter key and the video slowed down to a normal pace. Another key was pressed, and the front doors became exceedingly large. A group of people were exiting the building, five figures with bowed heads and dark clothing. As Beyond watched, one the the figures near the back looked up and stared straight at the camera. She had spiky black hair and an all-too-familiar gaze that read 'don't screw with me.' Beyond watched in disbelief as she winked at the camera before sliding into a limousine that had pulled up in front of the building.

KC.

* * *

><p><em>:3 I'm such a tease. <em>

_Frankly, our favorite schizophrenic serial killer needed more love. (I'm SO not changing the subject here.) I tried to go a little more in depth into my version of Beyond post-LABB case. I'm aware that his personality after imprisonment varies depending on the author, but this is my take on how he turned out.  
><em>

_Also, Lucifer was teaching KC how to throw knives. Er, diamond daggers. Same difference._


	22. EDISREHTO

_D: Two thousand words? What blasphemy is this?_

_Firstly, I (once again) apologize for the shortness. I have a lot going on right now, and I wrote this the day I was out of school sick. The homework situation really is killing me, but I'm the doofus who wanted to take college classes this year. DX Secondly, I know that I promised to answer reviews in the last chapter, which I didn't do because I updated at school two minutes before my director called everyone together. See below. Thirdly, this story is getting close to one hundred reviews! I'm tempted to offer a one-shot for the hundredth reviewer, but with my hectic schedule, I honestly don't know if I'd have the time; the little time I get to write shrinks by the day. I'll let you all know what I plan to do further down the road, but not before the hundredth review! Promise!_

_**Guest:** That's the fun of suspense, no? ;) You really don't know what will happen until it does._

_**Colette Hyuga:** I don't really blame you. I'm pretty sure I couldn't handle a person like that in real life. However, that's just how I picture him. KC, unfortunately, will have to rely on him for the time being. X3 Poor her._

_**Jestie Uchiha:** Thanks! ^^ Though, I do love to torture my characters~ It keep it interesting! About the trio, yes and no. I didn't coin the term 'loctopus' (that part really was from a game, as mentioned earlier by KC), 'graphire' is the official name for the model of the drawing tablet I use for my laptop, and Trey is actually the name of a friend of mine. However, I did completely design their forms and functions, as well as the science behind it all. (But I can't tell you what Beyond plans to do with it. Spoilers~) Also, in regards to romance, I have no clue. Seriously. The story practically writes itself. However, I DO know that there won't be anything going on between L and KC. Apart from that, anything's game. :)  
><em>

_**Hi:** Working on it! It looks like future updates may be few and far between, but the chapters should be longer after this. Hopefully. XD_

_**Invincible Shadow:** You have no idea how much I love to read your reviews. They always make my day. ^^ I hope the future three-way verbal sparring holds up to your impression!_

_**BurntPickle:** :3 Hmm... my first addicted reader. Cool! I hope this chapter leaves you in just as much suspense! ;D_

_**Lolz:** Ever since I changed the description, I've been getting more readers, even though the current description isn't half as serious as the rest of the story. The best of luck to you as well!_

_**Guest:** Oh, Autumn's role will be thrown into the spotlight sooner of later. Though bringing in the Wammy's House does sound like a good idea. Thanks!_

_**Guest:** Yup! Something like that, anyways. My friend's professor use to be in the mafia, so I got a lot of my facts from him before starting this story. Granted, that was quite a few years ago, but I changed so much of it that I sort of use(d) it as both a term and a noun. I guess one could say it's the product of linguistic evolution. :)_

_Before I forget, this chapter's name came from the song Otherside by Red Hot Chili Peppers. I've seen it written as Otherside, Other Side, and edisrehto (or EDISREHTRO), thus the odd scramble of letters. I thought it was oddly fitting, as all of my characters are in a sort of jumbled mindstate. (You can probably tell what song I was listening to when I wrote this.)  
><em>

_I own neither Otherside nor Death Note, but it would be wicked if I did._

* * *

><p><strong>EDISREHTO<br>(otherside)  
><strong>

_The girl had decided that there was something seriously wrong with Lucifer Strange. For some reason, the man had seemed... _off _for a full week. Usually, Lucifer couldn't care less what KC got into, as long as she did it well, but just yesterday, the man had frowned when discovering the youth sitting on the edge of the tub, the steaming water from the spout rushing over the gaping gash in her leg. Even when she had fought him tooth and nail, he had merely brushed her flailing limbs aside and set to work sewing up the wound before bandaging it with delicate hands. Afterwords, he had disappeared from the house for hours._

_When he came back in the following morning, he was covered in blood._

_"__What the..?" The spoon clattered in KC's cereal bowl as the Lucifer slammed the door, pressing his back up against it. Heavy breaths rattled the man's drenched body, sweat dripping down his face, turned red by the dark liquid that coated him. His black polo and slacks were covered in the same scarlet dressing. As KC watched, the man's knees gave out and he slumped to the floor with a dull thud._

_"__Lue!" The ten-year-old threw herself around the table at the man's feet. "What the hell happened?"_

_Coughs rattled his ragged form as he attempted to stand, his sunglasses dangling from one ear._

_"__Wait there!" The girl bolted from the kitchen, up the stairs, and into the bathroom. She quickly snagged the first-aid kit from over the sink and rushed back out, sliding down the hand rail and tumbling into the kitchen. She fell to the floor in front of Lucifer, swearing loudly as the table leg knocked against her bad leg. Ignoring the searing pain, KC whipped an inhaler from the kit and shoved it into Lucifer's mouth._

_The man's breathing didn't change._

_The girl snatched her cereal bowl from the table, dumped the remains down the sink, gave it a two-second scrub-down, and filled it with water before turning and dumped it over Lucifer's head. She repeated the action until the majority of the blood had been washed into the floor._

_Dropping to her knees, KC examined the man from top to bottom, but could find no wounds. They had to be hidden under his clothing. Unless..._

_"__Who did this to you?" she demanded. "Is this even your blood?"_

_The man faintly shook his head._

_With an aggravated cry, the girl chucked the cereal bowl across the room; it shattered against the far wall. "Well why the hell didn't you tell me? And what happened?"_

_Lucifer looked up, his hair- it was black this time- hanging over his dull eyes as numb words slowly seeped from his mouth;_

_"__The mafia happened."_

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 25 OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT- June 20th<strong>

I jolted violently, whacking my head over the bar behind my head, but the pain barely registered. Tremors ran the length of my body as I struggled to get my breathing under control. For a moment, I was grateful I've never been one to talk in my sleep.

Okay, you know what? I'm tired of these dreams. What the fuck did L put in my IV?

How long I hung there, I had no clue. It could have been hours, days, or mere seconds. Regardless, I didn't try to talk until I was positive that my voice wouldn't shake.

"L? You there?"

Silence.

Of course. The one time I would actually want to talk to the guy, he's off getting himself a coffee. Did L even drink coffee?

Sighing deeply, I rested my throbbing head back against the bar. I was wearing my nth blindfold, but for the first time, I was uneasy about what I would see if I took it off. Oh, what the hey? It's something to do. This struggle last exactly fifty-seven seconds. Yes, I counted. Yes, I'm bored. Yes, I'm fed up with weeks of inactivity.

_KC, what are you doing?_

I have never been happier to hear that emotionally-dead monotone. _B. _I took a deep breath. _Wait, what do you mean, what am I doing? Or was that your attempt at a horrible pun?_

Pause. _Where are you? Currently?_

_Still hanging around, waiting for L to get bored with me. Why? Does my immense suffering interest you?_

Cue an excruciatingly long pause. _You're still in confinement._

_NO, I'm riding around in a limousine with L to get lunch, singing Happy Birthday at the top of my lungs. Yes, I'm still in confinement. _I mentally facepalmed.

_Huh._

I waited. '_Huh?' That's all you're giving me? 'Huh?'_

_What day is it on your side of the paper?_

_Must be around June twentieth by now, give or take a few days. Why?_

_...There appears to be a slight lapse in our... time travel._

Great. Here we go again. _English, Mr. Birthday. Not all of us are Doctor Who fans._

_You don't like Doctor Who?_

_No. _I shuddered. (And hadn't we been through this already?)

_How interesting._

_Your point?_

_Your previous statement of sarcasm was frighteningly similar to what has just been witnessed in our parallel world._

_I'm riding around in limousine with L to get lunch, singing Happy Birthday at the top of my lungs?_

_You have just left L's building with four others to get into a limousine. Also, you winked at the bug Autumn placed._

Oh. _Is that good or bad?_

_It would depend on one's fondness for paradoxes._

I groaned softly. Joy. More mind games. As if L wasn't enough. _What day is it in your... world?_

_August eighth._

_Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. When you first contacted me, wasn't it August the first? I've been held captive for almost a month, and barely a week has gone by for you?_

There was no reply.

Frowning, I called out, _B?_

After a few more minutes of waiting, I realized that my mind-amoeba really had just abandoned me.

I work with the best people. I really do.

Heaving another sigh, I shuffled around in my bindings. For the next while, I played havoc on the heart monitor, wore the skin off around my ankles with the cuffs, picked a scab on the back of one knuckle, and counted backwards from one thousand by eights. Since that "entertained" me for the first twenty minutes, I moved on to humming every song I knew at warp speed, counting backwards from one thousand by thirteens, recounting the ceiling tiles and bars on my cell- as well as how many links were on my chains, and solving made-up quadratic equations aloud. Roughly an hour later, the only thing I had left in mind was inventing my own language.

_Actually, this is not the first time that your time line and our own have jumped closer together._

I jumped, whacking my head on the bar, and cursing in Farsi. _Jesus Christ! A little warning is great!_

_Boo?_

I rolled my eyes, slowly leaning my aching head back onto the infernal bar. _Anywho- what were you saying?_

_Just earlier today on our side of the paper, you were ranting about the men in your life who were determined to drive you mad._

_I don't think I worded it quite like that... but that was days ago._

_Precisely. I believe that either you are trying to jump to mine and Autumn's side of the paper, or your entire world jumped a few days ahead._

_...Uh huh. Let me guess: you have a degree in worm hole travel._

_Incorrect. I have two bachelor's degrees, one in astrophysics and another in biochemistry, as well as an associates degree in human anatomy and a master's in curdology._

I had nothing to say to that. Seriously, what _was _I suppose to say to that? Then again, I have to be a smartass. _I'm not even going to bother with the how or why, but really? Who the hell honestly has a degree in _cheesemaking?

_It always amused me as a child how the least intelligent in the room was said to have a degree in cheesemaking; it was an achievement I desired solely for the irony._

_Right. Ahem. Moving on. _This conversation was getting very weird very quickly. _So you were saying that the last we talked in your world was what, a few hours ago? But here, it was days._

_Also, your loctopus is quite annoying. He insists on sitting atop my shoulder during our conversations and digging those needle-pointed legs of his into the nape of my neck otherwise._

_Trey? _I tried not to gape. _Trey's functional?_

_You programmed the system with an automatic lockout if another collar was added. Trey refers to three, thus only three pieces may be active at one time. As the graphire is always running, I am wearing my collar, and you are without yours, the final leg needed to be activated to keep it stabilized._

_The system needed to maintain three parts, and only three parts, _I realized as he said it, _so only three pieces could run at a time. When I took my collar off..._

_Trey was reactivated. Yes. He says hi._

I chuckled dryly.

Then it hit me. And boy, did it hit me hard.

_IT'S ALTERNATING!_

_I am very glad you are not currently hooked into the graphire, as you may have just shattered my hypothetical eardrums._

_Don't you get it? _I demanded.

_Get what? _For some reason, I had the image of the schizophrenic lounging in a desk chair, graphire in his lap, as he twirled his dagger in one hand and typed with the other. He was also giving me an exasperated look. Maybe I really am going crazy.

_The worlds are alternating! Think of it this way: we're being shuttled between the sides of the paper. Each side has its own laws, but occasionally stuff can bleed through to the other side. Imagine a person writing in the notebook of life _(I'm never going to get over how weird that sounds)_. Each time they wish to write in the book, they turn the page. Now pretend that the notebook only has one paper, but the paper has two sides. You can write on one side, turn the page, and write on the back. Flip the paper, and you start the process over. All in all, you're alternating which side of the paper you're writing on._

_So when Autumn and myself went shipped to this side of the paper, the person didn't rewrite you with us, so you are still on the other side. Almost as it he/she is trying to put you where you belong._

_...Or maybe L's put something else in my IV. _I took a deep breath. _Where you guys are, I'm already free. This could mean one of three things: One, on August eighth in this world, I will be released for whatever reason. Two, the me you saw has already jumped to your world. Three, our lack of sanity will soon land someone in the doghouse. _Knowing my luck, it would probably be me, myself, and I.

_Hang tight. I'll watch the building for any indications to our little problem._

_Haha. Very funny._

_Still not as amusing as Mr. Dark and Mysterious Cheesemaker._

That was it. He was so dead.

* * *

><p><strong>August 8th<strong>

Just when Autumn thought the surprises were all worn out, _this _had to appear. The girl watched in horror as the figures piled out of the limousine. She counted KC and the four men, but that wasn't what concerned her. That had drawn her attention was the small girl who opened the door for them with a wide grin. The figure had curly black hair that was drawn back in a ponytail, shining hazel eyes, and was a good half-meter shorter than the others. She wore a dark sweater and jeans with neon red tennis shoes, her hair pulled back in a matching scrunchie.

The girl's blood ran cold as her mouth blurred with movement onscreen before the entourage steamed into the towering building. A soft shriek was torn from her lips as the figure cast one last look out through the glass door before disappearing into the building. Autumn quickly stabbed the keyboard and rewound the tape. It couldn't be. She paused.

Autumn Virginia Hall was staring herself in the face.

* * *

><p><em>I get the feeling that some of you are ready to strangle me. Don't kill the author! *hides behind table* Just remember that if I die now, you won't get to see what happens next~ ;) (My postbeta's up to chapter eighteen now, and I refuse to give her any more until I feel that I have a substantial amount of pages. Oddly enough, I don't think she's willing to wait for much longer. Strange, huh? :3)<em>

_So, KC's free, Autumn's in the building, and four men are escorting KC to and from L's building. :3 Any guesses? Suspicions? Send 'em in! I practically live off of your all's reactions. If all else fails, just remember our Mr. Dark and Mysterious Cheesemaker~_


	23. Once Bitten, Twice Shy

_Sweet merciful heavens, is it true? Why yes, it is! I'm ALIVE and kicking, people! It only took how many months this time..? Too long, any way you look at it, but that's besides the point. To make a long story short, this thing called "life" invaded my free time and filled it with things like homework, university, independent novels (not fanfictions), rewriting stuff for this little tale, and an overload of art commissions. Apart from being brain-dead and slightly miffed about my new schedule, I seem to have escaped unharmed. You all should say THANK YOU to the humongous snowstorm that left this entire side of my country house-ridden._

_First of all, a gigantic note of appreciation to CY's newest reviewer, Alen Alyson, for giving me the metaphorical kick in the butt to get this show on the road. My gratitude also goes to all of your out there who reviewed, favorite'd, and followed this two-year-long story (whose anniversary I've missed every single time XD). You all have brightened my days in way you wouldn't even begin to imagine.  
><em>

**_Killer-In-The-Making_**_: Really? That's one of my favorite parts about writing~ :3 And honestly, I have no idea when the new updates will be. My entire schedule is constantly shifting nowadays and I never really know when I'll be able to get stuff done.  
><em>

_**Alen Alyson**: I'm glad you like it! ^^ I often feel that half the stuff I cram into one chapter is just me rambling incoherently and that nobody "speaks my language." Once again, thanks for kicking my sorry butt back into gear._

* * *

><p><strong>Once Bitten, Twice Shy<strong>

**August 8th**

Autumn's heart caught in her throat. The mini her onscreen disappeared deeper into the building past her sights. Why was she in the building with KC? Was something going to happen soon? Was she going to be kidnapped? Granted, the other her hadn't seemed unhappy, but she was a pretty good actress by now, and who knew how good she could be months down the road? What if she had had no choice?

What if _she_ was the hostage, and not KC?

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 30 OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT- June 25th<strong>

A month. It had been roughly a month since my imprisonment, and I could feel it taking its toll. My muscles ached from hanging for so long. My skin was bruised, some patches a brilliant red streak as the repeated rubbings against it turned the exposed skin into a rash. I hadn't bathed in forever, and I really knew it; my clothing reeked almost as much as I did. The callouses on my hands were slowly beginning to fade away, and I could only guess that the marks from the collar had healed into pale scars. Without the graphire to support, I didn't need the excessive amount of food I usually ate, but my sudden spike in energy was just as tiring as the lack of things to waste it on. I had five main functions: eat, sleep, bathroom, talk to L, hang. Occasionally, Beyond would contact me via graphire and annoy the schist out of me; it was sad that I looked forward to those moments more than anything. All in all, I was a pretty sorry sight.

I felt my head loll as drowsiness tugged at my eyelids. I seemed to be sleeping a lot lately, not that I had much else to do...

_"__Tomorrow." The girl glanced up from her bowl of Fruit Loops. "Your birthday is tomorrow, correct?"_

_KC nodded, stuffing another spoonful into her mouth._

_Lucifer idly spun the diamond dagger on the table top, his eyes flickering under his sunglasses. Today's attire included a leather jacket and slacks. He wore no shoes, nor socks, one foot tucked under him as he sat at the kitchen table. His hair was a soft shade of gold, the strands hanging loose from their normal ponytail. Under the jacket, he was shirtless, but that wasn't what drew KC's attention. For the first time, she had noticed something that she hadn't before, and honestly had no clue how she had missed it._

_"__That thing," she said abruptly, "on your neck. What's that?"_

_Lucifer drew back in surprise. He fingered the base of his neck lightly, fingertips brushing up against the cold metal that rested there. "This?"_

_"__Yeah. What's that for?" The girl chomped down on another bite._

_A frown tugged at the corners of his lips. "Medical condition."_

_Her eyes narrowed. "Why haven't I seen it before?"_

_"__I haven't been wearing it," the man admitted, reaching out to stir his coffee._

_"__Should you have been?"_

_"__Wearing it? Not necessarily."_

_"__I thought you said it was for a medical condition."_

_"__It is."_

_"__Then how come you're wearing it if it's for a condition, but not until recently because it wasn't necessary?" she argued definitively._

_A wry chuckle was drawn from Lucifer. "I had forgotten about it, until recently."_

_"__Mhmm." The girl popped another bite in her mouth as silence fell around the table. After a minute or so, she piped up, "Well, what's it do?"_

_"__Do?"_

_She nodded. "You said it's for a condition," she prompted._

_Lucifer slowly drew a lazy smile across his face. "The metal sticks into my skin and attaches directly to the nerves in my neck, keeps them from misfiring. I suppose that's the technical way of saying fancy acupuncture."_

_"__You didn't tell me you had neuropathic pain," KC raised an eyebrow, dropping her spoon into the empty bowl._

_"__I don't."_

_The girl stared at him. "Then why wear it?"_

_"__Why not?" he chuckled, mostly to himself._

_KC shook her head. She had spent almost a year with this strange man, and he was still a complete mystery to her. "Does it have a name?"_

_"__A name?" he raised an eyebrow._

_"__Yeah. The metal thing," she waved a hand as she stood to put her bowl in the sink. "Do you call it anything?"_

_"__It doesn't matter what I call it. It won't come."_

_KC felt all of her emotions cease until all that remained was unadulterated deadpan. "Whatever," she mumbled. It was impossible to get anything out of Lucifer when he was like this. Sometimes, she felt as though he was put on the earth for the sole reason of annoying her._

_"__And you changed the subject before it could get anywhere. Your birthday is tomorrow."_

_"__So?" KC snorted, throwing herself back into the chair._

_Lucifer regarded the girl coolly. "I know I'm probably not the best with parenting, but a young girl like you needs to learn discipline as well as freedom." The youth's eyes rolled to him. "As today is your last to be ten years old, I have decreed that from this day forth, you'll need teaching of some sort. I presume that you wouldn't cooperate with the public school systems too well, so I've decided to train you myself."_

_If KC had been drinking at the same time, she would have spewed the liquid clear across the room. "You? Teach?" she ogled, trying not to laugh._

_He raised an eyebrow. "Problem?"_

_A few giggles escaped, despite her best efforts. "You don't really strike me as the teacher type, Lue."_

_An impassive expression colored his features. "Funny. You don't really strike me as the student type."_

_"__Hey! What's that suppose to mean?" KC bolted up, slamming her hands down on the table, eyes narrowed._

_"__Simply that you're far too rowdy to let loose on the general public," he said with an aloof grin. "My intention is for you to learn, not to terrorize the rest of the world."_

_"__I wouldn't terrorize the world!" KC protested._

_"__You can shoot a gun, throw knives, know parkour, and can scale a ten-foot wall without breaking a sweat. Of course you won't terrorize anyone," Lucifer leaned back in the chair. "But face it, if x^3=2x-3, what's x?"_

_The girl stared at him blankly._

_"__Precisely. In the real world, you wouldn't stand a chance."_

_"__And you think _you _are capable of teaching me?" she grumbled._

_"__Do you know any other ten-year-olds who deduct 'neuropathic pain' from 'fancy acupuncture' and use it in an everyday sentence?"_

_The man had a point, even if it was more than a little biased, but KC hesitated. "...What would this... _schooling _be like, anyways?"_

_The look that next came over Lucifer's face would be ingrained in the girl's mind forever. "That depends on what you're willing to learn." There was a pronounced gleam in his eyes as he spoke, a certain lilt in his voice that sent a shiver down her spine. "But first, what would you like for your birthday?"_

_She blinked, taken aback. "Uh..."_

_"__You can say anything. What do you want?"_

_Anything in the whole wide world? KC racked her brain for something, anything that might stand out without being too outrageous. Who knew? This might just be some sort of pretest. He seemed to get a kick out of making her jump through hoops, and she already suspected him to be some sort of a sadist. But despite the misgivings she had for this strange man, her eyes flickered to the metal contraption wrapped around the base of the man's neck. A mere medical condition? Pfft. She would believe that when pigs flew. Then again, the man hadn't lied to her yet, he simply stretched the truth or fed her a vague summery._

_"__I want a professional welding kit."_

_Lucifer's lips curled into a twisted grin. "Consider it done."_

I jolted awake, somehow _not _knocking my head over the bar. Ugh. I guess I dozed off. Stupid dreams came back. This one was farther along than the others. So far, I couldn't sense any connection between them, except that they were vaguely going in chronological order.

Then again, everything about this entire setup seemed 'vague.'

I scrubbed my head on my shoulder, already free of my blindfold which hung around my neck. Would it kill L to let me go for a walk? Wait. That would require removing my fancy accessories, and Lord knows we couldn't have little old KC roaming the streets like a madwoman.

...Now I'm beginning to see the connection between my dreams and reality.

I groaned softly, shuffling my feet as best I could and trying to ignore the dull throbbing around my ankles. At least one good thing was coming out of my confinement: I wasn't getting life-threatening injuries, nor risking my life trying to pull off asinine plans. Then again, years in the mafia taught me to be wary of easy situations. As though the detective who locked me up wasn't "easy" enough. Regardless, it just didn't feel right for me to be inactive. (Do excuse the broad understatement of the gravity of the current situation, as my brain is probably fried enough as is.)

One month. I still couldn't believe that I had been in here a month. It made me dread not only _what _was to come should I manage to get free, but _who _I'd have to face if my intelligence somehow doubled overnight.

Hah. Like that would ever happen. I really am loosing it.

* * *

><p><strong>August 9th<strong>

He couldn't help the thoughts that were drowning his worn mind, nor the pain that accompanied them. Regret burned him more than the flames that nearly took his life two years ago. Two years...

Shaking his head furiously, Beyond Birthday increased his pace, taking long strides across the pavement under the darkening sky. Overcome with floods of sudden memories, he had found his feet taking him out of the car garage and into the suburbs close by. Autumn would be fine on her own, despite her young age; Beyond had a funny feeling that she could handle herself, especially after the girl had shoved a sawed-off shotgun in his face when they had first met.

No- he couldn't get distracted.

Yes, he had to. If his mind continued to amble down the path he had walked, it would tear him to pieces.

_But that doesn't change the fact that history is repeating itself, _whispered a harsh voice from within his mind. It wasn't Trey, there was no mistake in the bloodlust in that tone.

"Shut up," Beyond's thoughts somehow made their may past his lips. He shrugged his trench coat closer to his neck, as the hairs of the back of it seemed to tingle. There was no wind that evening.

_You know what you want, yet you run from your problems like a coward. You know what to do. You've done it before, and this time, you know how you can succeed._

"I won't make the same mistake twice." It was a numb chanting within his mind, trying to fight of his inner demons.

No, not his inner demons.

Himself.

_You can't deny who you are, BB._

_Leave me alone! _Beyond hissed.

_You can't deny _what _you are._

He rounded the corner with more force that necessary, his extra momentum hammering on his joints as he hustled down the street. The next line of house were all painted a soft cream. The sky was blue. The window of the fourth house was open. There were no clouds visible. The roofs all had blue or gray shingles. He had to think of anything, anything to drown out that sinister voice.

_I will not lose myself again, _he spat.

_Oh, trust me, you will_, the voice taunted, _and when you do, L will make sure to invite himself to the party. He'll get to see you fail, BB. Not once, but twice. Just imagine the look on his face, Backup. Remember how it feels to be second-best. Remember what it feels like to be a fake. You're nothing but a copy, a pitiful copy, a _failed _copy. Don't you want to remind him that you're a person, that you're not just his puppet or replacement? You are Beyond Birthday, and you are his nightmare. Why don't you prove your worth?_

It was that very question that had triggered the reaction in him last time, but Beyond wasn't about to fall for the same trick twice. His own arrogance had gotten him caught last time, as well as underestimating Naomi Misora. Or overestimating her, if one looked at it from a certain angle. If she had been smart enough to figure out the clues by herself, he wouldn't have had to prompt her, and she wouldn't have wondered how he knew so much just from examining the crime scenes with her. On the other hand, if she had been smarter, she would have figured out the truth sooner, and he would be in the exact same place as before.

Once bitten, twice shy. He would never again underestimate those he deemed unworthy, even if L used them as his shield. Each person L chose to be his eyes and ears had a reason that enabled them to gain his attention, a lesson he had learned well. By underestimating them, he was underestimating L.

_But he's underestimating you, isn't he? Why don't you prove that you've already won? He surely knows you're free by now, so why not toy with his head awhile? _

"I won't kill anyone else," he whispered under his breath. "I've been surrounded by death. I can't escape it. I've learned my lesson now."

_You wouldn't even have to kill people. You wouldn't even have to kill L._

"I'm done trying to surpass him! Leave me alone!"

_Then why help these women? Why are you still playing a game yet insist that you aren't? Admit it, you're too scared to go up against L again. Scared he'll beat you a second time, and you couldn't take another blow to your pride._

"I'm not scared," growled Beyond, shoving his hands in his pockets, already slumping into the familiar L-pose as his pace increased again. He was power walking at the very least, but not going nearly fast enough to escape the voices in his head.

_Prove it. Defeat L. Drag him down into the dirt and filth and stomp all over him until he cries for mercy. Make him feel the pain you've suffered through your entire life;_

_Surpass L._

"Enough! Get out of my head! Get out of my head!" The man sunk to his knees at the next intersection, sobs wracking his stiffened form. He couldn't take it any more. The bloodlust. The darkness. The pain and suffering. If only he could make it all go away, every last bit of it. His past ate away at his insides, turning him back into the person he had tried to hard to suppress from the very moment he had regained control over his sanity.

"Backup?"

Oh no. He knew that voice.

"Backup, what's wrong?"

Shudders rippled through Beyond as he forced his eyes to remain focused on the sidewalk. He would not give in. This was nothing more than a hallucination.

This was not real.

"Hey, are you getting those headaches again? I have some jam, if that'll make it better."

Don't look up. Don't look up. Don't you dare look up.

The figure crouched into Beyond's peripheral vision and a jar was extended. Through the glass, he could see the glimmering scarlet sweetness within.

"Look at me. It's okay. I'm here."

Don't listen to him. He's not real. This wasn't real.

"B?"

A gentle hand brushed the edge of Beyond Birthday's chin, tugging his head up. The man himself was powerless to stop it, and as soon as his eyes locked onto the other's, he felt his will slipping away.

"A?" Beyond murmured softly.

The young man before him smiled faintly. He looked older than Beyond remembered, but that was to be expected. His ashen hair had paled into a dark blonde, sun-bleached streaks running amidst the shaggy locks. His face was the same tone as when he had last been seen; his cheeks still vibrant with their rosy tone. A broad jaw harbored thin lips and an age-old scar that ran from the cleft in his chin to the man's Adam's apple. Warm blue eyes flickering with intelligence peered out from behind stained wooden glasses. He wore a private academy uniform—a white T-shirt, cream vest and tie, with an obsidian blazer and matching slacks. His shoes had been polished until they gleamed, the laces tied with a practiced hand.

"You... look well." Beyond was at a loss for words. He knew what he was seeing, but despite the cries of protest from the last part of his mind that was still functional, he couldn't deny that there was always some part of him that had been hoping that this hallucination was real.

A's face flushed. "I'd say the same about you, but you're looking a little worse for wear." He held his arms out, just like he did when they were kids. Screaming within the confines of his head, Beyond felt himself lean forward and accept the embrace from the wraith.

A was dead. He was imagining all of this.

"I know you're not real," Beyond said hoarsely, forcing himself to draw back.

Frowning, A stared down at the jar of jam for a moment before unscrewing the lid and extending the glass to Beyond. "Taste for yourself," he encouraged. "You can't taste in dreams. You can only imagine the flavor."

"It doesn't matter. I know I'm still awake, and that you're dead. I knew when you would die. I always did."

The young man seemed to wince. "Then why didn't you try to stop me?"

"I..." Beyond's heart throbbed against the inside of his ribcage. Tears leaked form the corners of his eyes as his voice cracked, "I'm sorry, A. I'm sorry I couldn't save you."

"Couldn't, or wouldn't?"

"No, it's not like that," B clutched at Alternate's shoulder frantically. "You know what happens if I try to extend a person's lifespan. Just because it's possible doesn't always mean that I can. You were going to commit suicide, A. You always were."

Bitterness nipped A's tone. "Those eyes of yours only tell you a person's name and lifespan, not _how _they die. Even I know that much."

"But you didn't know. You never knew about my eyes," he pleaded, shaking the man lightly.

"I do now."

The words echoed in Beyond's head like the knelling of a bell. Even if A could somehow see him from the grave—No. It didn't matter. This man standing in front of him was a figment of his tormented imagination, nothing more. If Alternate somehow solved the riddle of his eyes, it still wouldn't help him. That was in the past. He had other scenarios to worry about.

_Look at that boy. That lost, hopeless boy._

_Don't start this again, _Beyond snarled, bolting to his feet. A shot him a puzzled glance between rising, a careful hand on other's shoulder.

"B? What's wrong?"

_L did this to him. He was placed under so much pressure that he couldn't handle it. Why? All because of L. _The voice was slightly sympathetic now. _We both know why you challenged L in the first place: you wanted to show him just what effect he had on people. A was suffocating under all of the stress; he committed suicide. B was the second child, and when it all came down to him, he ran; he became a murderer, the poisoned blade of his furies directed not at his victims, but towards L himself._

_Wrong,_ Beyond's tone soured. _I wanted to surpass L to show him that I wasn't second rate, that none of us were._

_You were getting revenge for A._

_I was trying to hit him where it hurt!_

_Funny, how you deny the truth with ever fiber of your being, yet cannot stand to look your demons in the eye._

Almost against his will, Beyond cast a forlorn look towards A, who was staring up at him with a warm expression. Even fully grown, he was still one head taller than the first prodigy. Then again, it was his mind, so he could probably change the other's height if he really wanted to. But all he really wanted was for his own brain to stop turning against him.

Taking a deep breath, Beyond whispered under his breath, "Long ago, I thought that I could prove L that he could be surpassed, just in a different way than what he was vying. I failed. I know I did. I lost so badly that it took me years to drag myself out of the pit I had dug for myself. Today, I stand high above that pit, and not even you—not my own grief personified—will drag me back into that hell. I'm through with revenge. I'm not going after L. I'm not going to kill him, no matter what I feel."

_You keep telling yourself that, but you know that, in all honesty, you long to draw that dagger of yours across his throat._

_I will not kill L_, snarled Beyond, _but I _can_ do something to ensure that he never torments anyone like that again. And this time, there will be no game of cat and mouse. There will just be victory._

* * *

><p>The afternoon sun was setting in the sky when B ambled through the office door. Autumn was pacing about the garage's warehouse furiously, having already stomped a worn path into the carpet between the door and the window. When Beyond entered, he cast her an odd look before pushing open the door to the office without a word. Autumn frowned to herself. Maybe it was just her, but the man seemed a little put out.<p>

It was probably just her imagination.

Shaking off her worries with a quick shiver, the girl trudged after BB. Upon entering the office, Autumn cast the man a quick look, her fingers trailing along the curving wire trailing out of the back of the computer. She watched with a keen gaze as he slumped into the rolling chair, one knee drawn up to his chest, looking utterly dejected as he slowly raised his eyes to meet her own. Autumn couldn't help but to nibble her lower lip before gathering the courage to slide from the desktop and into the chair facing him over the desk.

"Hey, Rue…" she began cautiously. "Say, if someone wanted to ask for advice, but they didn't really want to go into any details, what would you tell them?"

Beyond took a moment to ponder this before answering, "Don't drink the bottles under the sink."

Definitely not what she had been hoping for. "Anything else?" she asked.

"Happiness in life is achieved via eight dots."

Autumn stared at him. Sure, the man had his moods, but she hadn't been expecting something so… out there. "Huh?"

"Eight dots," Beyond took a deep breath. "Every element in the world is capable of reacting until they achieve eight valence electrons, and then they never react again. It's almost practically impossible to feign stealing away any of its electrons after all eight are acquired. Thus, peace and stability is created with eight dots: happiness. The Lewis Electron Dot Diagram."

"So you get eight… valence electrons and stuff doesn't react anymore?"

"Yes."

Well that made _perfect _sense. Autumn resisted letting out a painstakingly loud moan. For a moment, she wished that _she _had been hooked into the graphire-Trey-collar system, because she could really use some help translating the man's odd speech patterns to normal English. Then again, she didn't know how much use BB would be in such a situation anyways.

Autumn Virginia Hall was in the building with KC.

She watched as Beyond Birthday prodded the desktop computer's mouse with a lazy finger, his dark eyes trailing over the screen as it lit up.

Could she flat out ask him? Would he even give her a straight answer?

Fumbling with her laptop bag, Autumn let out a quick, "Be in the nest if you need me." before bolting out into the main shop. Her heart pounded as she clambered up the side of the crane and into its belly, depositing her laptop in shotgun and resting her head on the steering wheel. Why couldn't she bring herself to tell him? Sure, she might have been mistaken, but she had seen the reversed imagine of that face in the mirror for as long as she could remember, not to mention her reaction to seeing KC emerge from the limousine.

Then again, B was (is?) a schizophrenic serial killer. Or maybe just a murderer. On second thought, she barely knew him. The only things she ever really learned about Beyond were from his interactions with KC, which were few and far between if they didn't involve sarcasm, glaring, or jam. That was practically all she _did _know about him. That, and that KC considered him one of the smartest people she knew.

Autumn sighed softly and adjusted so that her crossed arms were between her head and the wheel. KC was scared to be betrayed. That made her sad, especially when B hinted that she might have gotten such a fear from experience. It might explain why she didn't have a husband, nor showed romantic interest in anyone. Her mentor was strong—usually fearless—and clever. Sadness just didn't suit her.

What if Autumn could cheer her up?

The girl's head shot upright. If KC was uneasy staying in the same place for a long time, then how was her capture treating her? It couldn't be fun, and it certainly wouldn't be a great place to stay for the holidays, but what if Autumn could find some way to brighten up KC's time in prison?

The laptop was open before she could blink, black and green markings splayed all over the screen as she accessed the raw programming. It only took a quick moment to bypass the firewalls of the police's external harddrive and dive into the system. Pages flashed across as vague pixelations, each barely having time to clarify before Autumn jumped over to the next one. Within the half hour, the girl had every record from every station in the Kanto region firmly secured into the memory of a small data chip sticking out of the side—a souvenir from her pickpocketing session on Main Street. Narrowed hazel eyes bore down on the files with an eagle's perception. Nothing escaped her—except for the truth.

KC wasn't listed in any of the official documents.

With an exasperated huff, Autumn plucked the flash drive out of the USB port and looped the string around her neck. If they wanted to be secretive, that was perfectly fine with her.

Autumn would just go find the woman herself.

* * *

><p>The door to the warehouse slammed loudly; the kid must be going out for ice cream.<p>

Beyond ran a hand down his face, struggling to keep his breathing under control. What the hell had happened to him? Hallucinating? And about A, no less. Perhaps he really had lost it. The man drew a new jar of strawberry jam from the drawer of the desk and popped the lid off, but his fingers remained poised over the delicious red substance.

Red, like blood.

Taking a deep breath, Beyond resealed the jar and set it down atop the desk where it stared at him with unseeing eyes.

Why did he enjoy the sticky concentration so much? For as long as he could remember, jam was the sole food that had appealed to his pallet since birth without change. Food preferences had always come and go, it was only natural, but never jam. For whatever reason, strawberry jam had always been a favorite food of his, and he certainly ate it as such. An outsider might call him unwavering love an addiction, but to Beyond, it was nothing more than a pleasant experience waiting to happen.

Until now.

Now, the mere thought of the sticky redness sent his stomach into a tizzy. Beyond wasn't sure if he was going to be sick or if he was just feeling disgusted about himself.

Hallucinating? Him? The great Beyond Birthday?

It made him feel helpless, and if there was one thing Beyond hated more than L, it was being unable to help himself.

He was no slave. Beyond Birthday was no one's bitch.

In a sudden spurt of recalcitrance, Beyond snatched up the jar and took a large mouthful. At once, the sliminess stung his taste buds and left him gagging and chocking silently. In the end, it was all B could do to spit the vile jam out into his palm.

Redness that dark could only be two things: a strawberry substance... or blood.

With a soft cry of indignation, Beyond flung the handful of jam to the floor and quickly wiped his hand on his jeans. Why was jam affecting him like this? It had never done so before, so why now?

What the hell was happening to him?

* * *

><p>As Autumn strode through the streets of downtown Tokyo, the young girl clutched a battered black trash bag in her aching hands. She had only been walking for ten minutes after riding the bus for twenty, but tell that to her feet, or pretty much all of her. She knew that her plan had a good chance of success, but a part of her was worried that she was in way over her head. With KC out of the picture, that left BB and Autumn wasn't about to hand her soul over to a man with death-god eyes and a freaky blood lust.<p>

Autumn knew that L wouldn't hold KC in a normal prison cell. That would be too exposed, and risk of a prison break was far too great. Also, she knew that a seven-year-old couldn't just march into the station and demand to see a black-haired woman with green eyes, odd gadgets, and a ton of scars.

But she _could_ walk straight through the doors of the police station.

* * *

><p><strong>DAY 36- July 1st<strong>

When I next woke up, there was something wrong. Oh, yeah. Now I remembered:

Stupid me had gotten captured. That feeling of "wrongness" would be the pain in my wrists where my restraints had already worn away the skin into bloody patches.

Groaning under my breath, I tried to add up the days. For the first time, all numbers and letters escaped me in a frustrating dance. Every time I tried to pin them down, they scampered around me again, their laughter echoing off of the insides of my skull.

I really had lost my mind.

A certain man who will remain unnamed had put another blindfold on me. This one took at least twenty minutes to get off, partly because there was another strap to keep it secured, partly because I wasn't really focusing on trying to see. If anything, I was just looking for something to do. Once I took off the blindfold, there was nothing else "productive" for me here.

I've been in here far too long.

It was the only thought that consistently badgered me, day and night. These dreams, this feeling of complete helplessness—it all had to end. Soon. I was past climbing the metaphorical walls; now I felt weak and pathetic and looking for any excuse to get out. On the bright side, I knew why all of this was happening: this was exactly what L wanted. He wanted me broken. He wanted me to plead for my life and sanity.

He wanted me to know who was in charge.

Huh. What a funny coincidence. I could tell you two other people he reminds me of. I can picture it now: L, Beyond, and Lucifer all playing golf together and wearing Members of Sadism uniforms. The detective hiding behind a mask, Beyond with his jam, and my mentor wearing those ever-present sunglasses. Or maybe they could form the neighborhood country club for the obsessively belligerent. Yeah, that sounded accurate.

Sweet heavens. What the hell is happening to me?

...Did I really just think "sweat heavens"?

Okay, that's it. I'm out of here.

I groaned loudly and tried to stretch in my bindings, but all I succeeded in doing for earning harsher throbs from my ankles and wrists. Stupid restraints were cutting into my skin pretty badly. They'd probably be infected by now if there hadn't been something preventing it in the IV. No... that couldn't be right. You can't prevent infection. Infection is caused by bacteria, which can only be killed; _viruses _were what you could get a vaccine for, not bacteria.

By the way, I've always wondered why doctors prescribe antibiotics to people with viral diseases. Maybe it's just to make them think they're going to feel better. Mind over matter? Just seems like a waste of medicine to me.

I leaned my head back on my newly dubbed best friend (read: the bar behind my head). Times like this really made me long for my own universe. In 2038, we already had the "cure" for the common cold. Granted, it had only been out for less than a year and was still in the makings, but everyone it was tested on came out okay. Better than okay, actually.

Since I know Beyond is probably reading this and resenting the whole country club with him, L, and Mr. Strange, I won't go into too much detail on it.

Spoilers, you narcissist. Spoilers.

A quiet cough came from directly in front of me.

My eyes shot open, more from incomprehension than surprise. Was there really another human being in here?

Why yes there was!

It was a man. Two of them, in fact. The first was a good head (or two) taller than myself and dressed in a fancy suit, complete with tie (much like the second, but his tie was hanging loosely around his neck). His dark hair was slicked back from his forehead, exposing a broad jaw, decorated by a mustache. Hardened eyes peered at me from behind brown frames and as he exchanged a glance with his companion, a man I recognized all too easily.

Hello there, Mister Matsuda.

"Ishi-san, do you know who I am?" asked the taller of the two in a gruff voice. Then again, he wasn't all that much taller. Maybe just a few inches.

Focus, KC, focus.

I raised an eyebrow and said, "My lord and savior Jesus Christ?"

Apparently the guy didn't have my sense of humor, because his visage turned into a light scowl. At his side, the younger man's eyes narrowed.

"I am the Chief of Police-"

"Yagami-san?" I cut in swiftly.

The men exchanged a sharp glance.

"Yeah, I read your file, but for some reason, I couldn't find a picture." It was becoming increasingly hard not to smirk. "Hiding from the big bad wolf, sir?"

Oh, jeez. This meant that the chief didn't know his son was Kira.

Well schist.

"What about me?" the short man asked, almost eagerly.

"Matsuda-san," I replied in a bored monotone.

Said man's mouth dropped, but the chief cleared his throat loudly, shooting his companion a firm look, as though to say, _Don't make me regret bringing you._

Turning to face me, Chief Yagami said, "Ishi-san, you are to come with me and make no move to resist. If you try to escape, you will instantly be shot. There are no second chances."

What a charmer.

Taking a deep breath—and trying to hide my growing excitement as the prospect of getting out of this dump—I said in a lazy a tone as I could manage, "Let me guess. We're doing this the ol' fashioned way: bag over the head, gun in the back, off to Wonderland in the back of a car."

My only response was a disapproving look in the men's eyes...

And the pair of handcuffs the chief pulled from his belt.

* * *

><p><strong>August 9th, still<strong>

Taking a deep breath, Autumn clutched at the neckline of her cotton blazer, her heart pounding against the inside of her ribcage. Fear was good—KC had told her that much—and it would most definitely help her stay in character. The police would be suspicious if a young girl just strolled into the station and made demands, in English no less, but what would they have to say about a child who escaped her kidnapper?

She checked her outfit a final time. The blazer was a dark navy with silver pinstripes and darker buttons. Before putting on a pale gray Polo underneath, she had taken both articles of clothing and scrubbed the floor of a nearby printing press to add ink stains and dust. Her boxpleat skort had had a similar treatment, but she had taken Rue's dagger and added slits to the ends and tore a large chunk from one edge. Her flats had been tossed down a riverbank roughly two minutes before, and Autumn had taken the liberty of adding rope burns to her wrists and ankles. They hurt, but not as much as the thought of what L could be planning to do to KC.

Now all she needed was a bloodcurdling scream.

"_Aaaiiiiiiiiiiggh!_"

That would have to do.

Autumn barreled into the police station, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks as she tore past the reception desk and deeper into the building. "Somebody help me!" she screeched. Autumn was vaguely aware of people hustling around her, either to get out of her way or try to grab her, but she paid them no attention. "He's after me! Help!"

The girl threw herself down under an empty desk with another cry, curling into a fetal position and scrunching to the farthest side of the cubical. Feet began to appear and a bolt of uncertainly caused her voice to crack when she next yelled, "Get away from me!"

"Hey." A young man crouched down to Autumn's level, his voice heavily accented. His hair was dark, his bangs slicked back against his head apart from a few strands which hung over his golden eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Stop him," Autumn whispered, trembling. "Please don't let him hurt me."

"Who?"

Autumn shielded her face with her arms and let out a loud sob. "Please, don't hurt me. Please."

A gentle hand brushed against her shoulder and she flinched away. "Hey, kid. I'm not going to hurt you," said the officer in a gentle tone. "Whoever was chasing you, he's gone."

"Really?" the girl sniffled, casting a quick glance at the man.

"I promise," he offered a soft smile.

Without further ado, Autumn threw herself into the man's arms and put on her best actress' tears. Her body trembled as the salty liquid gushed down her cheeks. "I thought he was gonna kill me…" she whispered into his chest. "I thought I was gonna die."

"Hey, hey, take it easy, little one," he said softly, rubbing her back. "Did he hurt you?"

"He didn't let me drink all day!" she whimpered without looking up.

"Well, I have an idea. Can I leave you here to get you some water?"

"Don't leave me!" Autumn wrapped her arms around the man's neck. The officer smelled oddly—like cleaning products, or maybe chlorine.

"It'll just be for a second, okay? Just wait here. Besides, he can't get to you now; he wouldn't dare. There's too many of us to protect a princess like you. So you wait right here, okay? Know what? You can even hold my badge for me." To her surprise, the man actually plucked his badge from a pocket inside of his uniform and handed it to Autumn. Even more astounding, the man slid from the cubical and vanished deeper into the police station. Her eyes continued to stare in the direction of his disappearance until his footsteps were overtaken by the various noises that echoed from the station as a whole.

As quietly as she could, Autumn popped to her feet and slid in the opposite direction, diagonally towards the door. Badge clutched firmly in her palm, the girl slipped in through an ajar door, softly closing it in her wake. Her heart pounded against the inside of her rib cage, and she wondered how the other people couldn't hear her ragged breathing.

"_Fear is good. It's a warning, it keeps you on your toes. Without it, you might as go plundering into anything blindfolded. Being afraid proves you're human. It's natural. Embrace it, kiddo, because a force that can push people off buildings, turn mighty leaders into cowards, bring out the hero from the most unlikely, and turn the entire world on its ear can't go ignored. Just remember that when this is all over, you can stand up, dust yourself off, and realized how much better you've become. Fear isn't just a weakness or weapon, it's what makes you _you_. If you can face your worst fear, you can do anything."_

Fear is good. Fear is good.

Taking a deep breath, Autumn glanced around the room.

The office was roughly four and a half by five meters, with a low ceiling—an off-white shade—with caramel walls and toffee-colored carpet. A rugged welcome mat hung on the back of the door (or at least, Autumn assumed it was a welcome mat; she still couldn't read diddly in Japanese), its ruffled tufts of harsh fabric speckled with flecks of discoloration. There was a metal desk in the middle of the room that was loaded down with paperwork, an overflowing trash bin, and something that might have been a petrified monkey head or a deformed rugby ball. (Autumn really hoped it was the latter.) She could faintly hear the engine of a desktop computer over the beeping of a pager that been discarded in the chair in front of the desk. Just behind the desk sat a wall of aluminum filing cabinets and a lopsided bookshelf that had been crammed full with official reports.

Bingo.

Autumn slithered over the carpet, casting a swift glance over her shoulder at the closed door, before grabbing the chair and jamming it under the doorknob. Quick as a wink, the girl darted over to the filing cabinets, jerked a pair of gloves out of her pocket and over her shaky hands, and withdrew an itty bitty knitting needle and a TecDec screwdriver from the hidden pocket in her bra. She crouched down, blowing a strand of hair back from her face.

This was her world now. She could do this at least.

It took almost ten seconds for Autumn to pop the lock on the first drawer- longer than she would have liked- but it would have to do. The girl jerked open the drawer and ripped the first file out, skimming its contents so fast that the words almost didn't register.

Wrong.

She grabbed the second one.

No.

The third.

Still not right.

Fourth.

Not the Kira case.

Seventh. Eleventh. Sixteenth. Twenty-nineth. Forty-eighth.

No. No. No. No. NO!

Autumn dropped to the second drawer. Pick the lock. Read the files. All wrong.

Ten minutes later, Autumn had filtered through two entire cabinets, but to no avail. It was as if the entire file on the Kira case had up and left.

Scrunching up her brow, Autumn struggled to remember her training. It seemed like it had happened so long ago, but she could faintly hear her mother's voice in the back of her mind.

"_Autumn, nothing will ever throw itself into your hands. If anything, everything in the world is trying to hide from you. Everything is a game: hide and seek. _You _just have to know how to find them," Cassandra Hall said with a warm smile. She sat on the couch, feet propped up on the man who sat at the other end. Mr. Wutt, a frequent visitor in the Hall "household" however temporary, shot her a stern look but made no move to shove them away._

_Four-year-old Autumn peered up at her mother with wide amber eyes, curiosity lining her next words, "So I just gotta become a real good seeker, right?"_

"_Very," corrected Mr. Wutt. "The best, if you can help it."_

_Cassandra's eyes seemed to twinkle as they met Mr. Wutt's. For some reason, the larger man seemed to draw back under her gaze. Autumn cocked her head. Mama always told her to watch for even the tiniest details of the world, so… was this what she meant?_

"_Are you scared of Mama?" asked the girl with genuine curiosity._

_Mr. Wutt recoiled with a sharp noise. Autumn recognized the sound as dismay, but his facial expression as horror. To his left, Cassandra tried to muffle her giggles beneath her palm._

"_No," the man replied stiffly. "Wary, but not scared."_

_Cassandra held up a hand before he could continue. "Autumn, sweetie, where did you get that idea?"_

"_He flinched."_

_A broad smile cleaved her mother's face and the woman swooped upon her daughter and pulled her into a grand hug. "You're learning!" she cried. "Oh, you'll live up to your reputation yet!" She pulled Autumn away from her long enough to say, "Just remember, Autumn: you can almost always outsmart someone by turning their pride against them. What they flaunt to the world is rarely the whole truth."_

Rarely the whole truth, huh? Pride as a downfall?

The girl drew back from the wall with a frown.

She could work with that.

But where would a prideful person hide their deepest secret?

Her eyes trailed the room before landing on the desk.

Of course.

They would hide it in plain sight.

The doorknob rattled furiously and Autumn jolted, whirling around. She had mere seconds.

"Hello?" she called out, allowing her voice to warble a bit. "Is somebody there?"

Spouts of urgent Japanese whaled on the other side of the door; she didn't even have seconds.

In a desperate dash, Autumn flung open the first drawer of the desk, took half a second to find the divider labeled 'K', ripped out the first two files she came to, and stuffed them under her bra. As long as no one patted her down, the elastic alone should keep the information pressed against her body and out of sight. Before the people outside could get suspicious, Autumn jerked the chair away from the door and opened with less force than what she had used when she had practically thrown the chain back into its place. Outside stood two police officers, one who looked down at Autumn with a shocked expression, and his partner—a woman—whose eyes narrowed upon locking with Autumn's own amber. She spoke in harsh Japanese and before Autumn could react, the woman grabbed her by one arm and dragged her back into the main room.

Safe.

She hoped.

Autumn was left in an empty cubical near the front door. Near, but not close enough to make a break for it. Darn.

The girl glanced around. If she was quick, she could make it to the next cubical without anybody noticing, but if someone saw her, her actions would be far more suspicious than just walking.

She had walked right through the front doors in the first place, hadn't she? Well, she ran, but that was besides the point. In any case, who was to tell her that she couldn't just fake her way out of this? Nobody would suspect a terrified little girl needing to find the bathroom.

Bravery renewed, Autumn skirted around the carpeted dividers and into the next cubical. The man at the desk regarded her with a slow blink, as though determining her existence. In the best Japanese Autumn could muster, she asked carefully, "Where are the restrooms?" Come to think of it, she might have accidentally said "Sea lion is the restrooms?" The words for 'where' and 'sea lion' were too similar for Autumn's tastes, and KC had scolded her many a times for the slip up.

Either way, the man must have understood the gist of her speech because he pointed to one corner of the building. Or, more specifically, the door with the stereotypical man and woman plastered on the door.

It just had to be in plain sight.

Bowing deeply, Autumn murmured a quick word of thanks (or what she hoped was some form of gratitude) before walking away at a brisk pace. She had to seem determined, but not as though she had an ulterior motive, or whatever it was called. If she looked suspicious, someone was bound to stop her. At this point, all Autumn could hope for was a window without bars.

To her relief, the girl reached the restroom wouldn't a hassle and popped inside. Without bothering to look at her exact details of her surroundings, Autumn locked the door and scanned the room for a window. There was one—woohoo!— and it wasn't barred. Wiping sweat from her brow (when did that get there?), the girl used the seat of the toilet to hoist herself into the deep inlet. She pulled out the knitting needle again and jammed it into the crack where the window met the frame of the windowsill. After fiddling with the window to find and flip the lock for a few precarious minutes, the girl managed to unlock the window long enough to slide the needle all the way under...

And long enough for the alarms at the station to go off.

A loud squeak escaped Autumn before she could muffle herself. Heart pounding, the girl used the needle to pry the window up long enough to jam the police badge into the gap. Who knew that thing would come in handy?

Luck must have been on her side that day, because this station didn't have weighted windows. Apparently, there were security systems out there that, in the event that the alarms were triggered, the windows were deadlocked and reinforced with an extra fifty pounds of pressure to keep them from opening. Fifty pounds wouldn't have been all that much of a problem for a girl who could bench press a hundred, but her current angle—sitting in the alcove in order to reach the stupid window in the first place—meant that her strength relied on how productively she could position herself without falling. In this case, the window was just extraordinarily heavy to begin with.

Autumn shuffled around so that she was balanced on her knees, legs hanging into the open air behind her, hands grasping the underside of the window with her fingertips on either side of the badge. Behind her came the shouts of the officers as they raced about, probably trying to find the source of the intrusion. Well, if they didn't already guess that someone was breaking _out_, not in.

As though summoned by her fear alone, the doorknob rattled and a loud voice screamed in harsh Japanese. Autumn felt herself jump a little and had to claw madly at the window for a moment to keep from falling backwards.

That lock should hold them just long enough for Autumn to escape.

Should.

Through the window, Autumn could see a long alley, each end opening up to a road. Across the alley was a two-story building with a fire escape. In the event that the police station was surrounded by the time she got out, Autumn could make a break for the metal contraption hanging from the side of the building and hopefully use her parkour to flee undetected.

Hopefully.

It seemed to the girl that she was relying on a lot of "what if"s lately, but she tried not to dwell on that.

Autumn heaved upwards with all of her strength and, bit by agonizingly slow bit, the window groaned and creaked and eventually opened to the point where Autumn could slide her knee under the frame to keep it open. The wood bit down on her leg in a sharp blast of pain, but she ignored it as best she could and fitted her hands back underneath to their handholds.

Another voice had joined the first outside, and another. Now, an entire entourage was pounding their fists on the door. A solid thud almost caused Autumn to drop the window—someone must be trying to kick the door in.

Thank goodness it swung outwards.

There was a loud SMASH and suddenly, there was a hole in the wood at waist-level. A moment later, a dark brown eye flashed in the hole and sent a bolt of adrenaline through Autumn's veins. In a flash of panic, the girl threw every inch of her body into shoving the window open all the way. The wood gave way unexpectedly, and the girl lost her balance, swaying precariously in the inlet.

A sledgehammer produced a large hole in the door and splintered rained down inside the tiny bathroom. Autumn tried to stifle her yelp of fear and she recoiled instinctively from the spiteful rain. The window slipped from her grasp and she toppled from the inlet, smashing her in the head on the way down. Autumn tumbled down, her ankle twisting painfully as the window came down on it brutally, tearing a wail from her parched throat.

Pain. That was all she could feel. Pain in her head, pain in her leg, pain in her shoulder, which had taken most of the fall for the rest of her.

Her vision swam before her and all she knew was that she had made it outside—all of her except for her leg; the limb was still caught between the window and the sill. She knew all of this from the concrete that gnawed on her cheek and the throbbing pain in her ankle that assured her that the limb hadn't been severed.

Said pain was increased when something wrapped itself around her foot. A bloodcurdling screamed echoed in the alley; Autumn would later realize that it was hers. Through the window, she could faintly make out the blurred outlines of people. For some reason, this sent her into a state of terror. She had to escape from these people, but she just couldn't remember why.

"_A fox will gnaw off its own leg to escape a trap."_

Talking voices in her head? Autumn suddenly felt very small. Her body was ridden with pain and she couldn't seem to move anything. She couldn't even remember why she was here in the first place.

"_If you ever feel trapped, don't waste time trying to outsmart the handcuffs."_

What were these head-voices? Were they... memories?

The window rattled and another bolt of pain shot up the girl's leg. Autumn whimpered and tried to run, but none of her limbs were functioning properly. Apart from the entire world fazing in and out of focus, there was a certain nausea that made Autumn want to faint dead away. It reminded her of hanging upside-down for a long time and all of the blood rushes to one's head.

Suddenly, the pain lessened drastically and Autumn felt herself body slipping further out of the window. The grip on her foot tightened, but the girl noticed that the window was open.

The window was open. She could run now.

Hazy, with her terror renewed, Autumn wrenched her foot free and felt her body slump to the ground. She heard someone screaming at her to move, someone whose voice sounded remarkably like her own.

Movement. Moving. Yes, she could do that.

And Autumn was running. Well, more like hobbling. Agony rippled up her leg in waves and sent tremors all throughout her stricken body.

She had to get away. She knew and understood that much, and that much alone.

Alone.

Rue.

She had to find Rue.

It was all the girl could do not to succumb to her affliction and fall to her knees. Her every step with the wounded foot left a smudge of scarlet on the pavement and a bit of her will in unseen dilapidation. Somehow, she had reached the end of the alley and was staring out at a busy street. Colors flashed by her, but she could no longer make out their shapes. Everything seemed to sway before her, and her head was in almost as much pain as her foot. All at once, everything caught up to her—everything and nothing. She knew that she was running from someone who didn't know that they were bad. She knew that she had something they would be missing. She also knew that she wouldn't be able to stand much longer, and that if she fell now, she would never get back up and her plan was doomed to fail. If those files got back into the hands of those chasing her, she would never seen KC again.

KC.

Guilt slammed into Autumn, causing her to shudder and almost crumble to the pavement. She couldn't let down her mentor. She had to find KC.

She had to find KC.

Had to find...

find KC..?

The world was swallowed by darkness as the squealing of brakes and the crunching of bones was the last thing Autumn heard before the ebony overtook her and everything turned cold.

* * *

><p><em>:D Mwahahaha! You all thought that I'd return a changed woman who wouldn't torture my lovely readers with cliffhangers like this!<em>

_Well, I for one am extremely proud of how this turned out. Something actually happens to KC, the more traumatized side of Beyond is revealed and Autumn... I won't say anything about her~ Okay, I lied. For those of you completely lost, when Autumn was startled, she fell forward out the window. Since she was no longer supporting the frame, the window smashed her head, giving her a concussion, and slammed down on her ankle before all of her could fall to the ground outside. Autumn landed on her shoulder, but her lower body was still hanging from the window. When the police broken into the room, they forced the window open to try and drag her back inside, but Autumn managed to get free and scramble away. I don't know about you all, but if I was a six-year-old with a concussion, I wouldn't be describing things too well, so I sacrificed detail for accuracy. I hope that didn't baffle you all too badly. :)  
><em>

_Ugh. Despite my pride being centered around the massive amount of plot I managed to cram in here (discreetly-ish), I had doubts during the outlining stage. I wanted to convey Beyond's mental condition in a way that said, "I'm mentally unstable, but still functional, but still mentally unstable." _ (Though I have this fear that my recent reintroduction to my favorite childhood villain-turned-hero-ish OF ALL TIME [how could I have forgotten about you?! D:] sort of seeped into Beyond in this chapter. Kudos of points to those who can correctly guess who I'm talking about. X3)_ It was hinted in Another Note that Beyond Birthday might have chosen to become the World's Greatest Criminal to spite L in A's name, and I thought that it was a perfectly plausible reason, so I stuck it in. Also, Autumn needed more love. She's like the main character with no real personality that just does the job that needs to be done to keep the action rolling. I suppose this is my messed up way of making her a necessary addition to the team._

_Whelp, that's all for now, folks! Hope you enjoyed the update and aren't plotting to kill me for taking so long. On another note that's completely irrelevant (SO not a pun), a few of my friends are performing an excerpt from this book called Beauty Queens about the up-and-coming Miss America contestants being stranded on an island before the competition. Every time I walk in on their rehearsal, I can't keep a straight face. "I want to be a motivational speaker~" "What are you going to motivate people to do?" "Motivational things!" "So are you going to motivate people to bring peace to war-torn countries or are you going to motivate them to join a cult and drink the Kool-Aid?" "Um... the first one!" XD Seriously. You all should go find that book RIGHT NOW and try not to die laughing. I dare you._

_Okay, seriously, I'll shut up now. Hope you all have a wonderful Singles' Awareness—I mean, VALENTINE'S Day! :D_


	24. Fragility

_Sometimes I get the strangest feeling that life itself is out to get me... But anyways-HELLO ALL! Once again, alive. I _would _add 'and well' to the previous sentence, but as I type this up, I'm not exactly at the epitome of perfect health. Upper respiratory infection ("sinuses throwing a slumber party upstairs"), unexplainable dizziness, stomach cramps, nausea, strange weaknesses in my knees and ankles-I've got the whole spring shibang. Oh, also allergies and asthma. -_- If I wanted to make this AN approximately two pages longer, I could rant and rave about my hectic life as of late, but I'll cut it short and say that I challenged life to a fencing contest and lost. Horribly. DX Moving on..._

_Two months and only 9.3k words to show for it. Ugh. Can I get a cookie if I can't have a break? XD But before I derail myself any further, let me give a shout out of thanks to the plethora of fabulous readers who reviewed/favorited/followed this story after the last update! I'm seriously psyched with all of the attention Chasing Yesterday has been getting as of late, and I don't even update it regularly. o.o_

_And before I forget (do excuse my minor tangent here), I've been trying to get back into watching television like a real, live human being instead of looking up missed episodes online, and a member of my family told me about this show where one of my favorite actors was starring in a new TV show. It's called Intelligence, and it's about this man with a genetic mutation that allows him to have a microchip implanted in his brain, thus allowing him access to any sort of electronic with accessibility to the world wide grid. THE SCRIPT WRITERS BORROWED MY COLLAR IDEA! ^^ Is that what actually happened? Regrettably, no, but it would have been AWESOME! The only major downside is that one of the elements in the show also happened to be IDENTICAL to a plot twist I had planned to reveal in the chapter after the next update (chapter twenty-six). You guys have no idea how frustrated I am because of this. ARGH! Seriously, though, go watch it. It's pretty sweet, fast-paced, with interesting twists and turns. (And it won't give away too much for what I have planned later on. ;) )_

_Black Dragon__ Mistress__: Occasionally inactive, but never forgotten! I'm too obsessed with Death Note to leave this bad boy unattended for too long. ;) Hopefully, [almost] ten thousand words will make up for the past two months of coughcoughhomeworkcoughuniversitycough, ahem, nothing._

_Clairissazeniarosele: A new reader! Hello! ^^ I'm glad you like this fanfic and its progression over two and half years. I can barely even remember the beginning sometimes(*going back to reread it right now-I really want to rewrite it), but I hope this story will continue to entertain up until the very end.  
><em>

_Alen Alyson: Yep, again! Whenever I notice something different about the number tallies for my stories, I often feel like, 'Oh, yeah! People still read this! I should probably give them something else to try.' XD I swear, I'm scatterbrained that I'd lose my head if it wasn't attached. At least I have enough people in real life bugging me so that I don't actually forget about any of my works._

_'Dedicated Guest': Aww, thanks! I'm really glad that you like how I portray him, and Autumn really did need a POV of her own; she needs all of the love she can get. After all, look who the poor girl has to put up with._

_Whelp, since I own nothing except for my excessive amount of homework, this laptop, my current collection of illnesses, a 3DS, and a dysfunctional cell phone, it's safe to say that Death Note is not part of that picture._

* * *

><p><strong>Fragility<strong>

_KC felt her eyes drift slowly back across to the other side of the car. For the first time since she had met him, Lucifer Strange had tucked his ponytail up inside a ball cap, effectively hiding it from sight. For some reason, that bugged her more that what they were about to do._

_The girl wore a dainty yellow sundress—a particular article of clothing she had come to loathe but learned to tolerate—and lightweight sandals. Her dark hair had been brushed back from her face and held in place with a headband. On one wrist she wore a silver watch, onyx roman numerals engraves into the pearl-like face. To her left, Lucifer was dressed in one of his military-but-not-military jackets—camouflage—over a white tank top and tan jeans. Rugged tennis shoes adorned his feet and an identical pale gray watch dangled from his wrist. Also, he wore that strip of metal around his neck, a sight KC had become accustomed to over the months she had spent with him._

_It hadn't occurred to KC before, but the man had a very strange sense of fashion._

_The beat-up Ford sat in the parking lot of a hospital. For whatever reason, Lucifer had driven for hours to reach the place, and now his sleuth-like determination had faded into a nostalgic smirk. One hand on the wheel, he reclined back in his seat with what could only be described as a cocky slump, the other hand twirling his diamond dagger. KC subconsciously ran her hand along the outside of her thigh, the sheathe of her own antimetal* weapon nearly intangible as its rubber casing was made specifically to survive a pat down._

_"__Why are we here?" she asked at last, returning her gaze to the peculiar building before her. There was nothing special about it, truth be told. It just looked like an ordinary hospital to her—brick walls, emergency lane for the speeding ambulances, a waiting center near the front for the visitors..._

_But her opinion of the place changed drastically when Lucifer said in a low tone, "Tempsforth Hospital, the best private hospital east of the Mississippi. This is where I was brought when I returned to the United States, and was dying."_

_KC eyed the man, her wariness renewed. The whole dying issue didn't faze her as much as the fact that the man had willingly revealed something about himself. No begging. No pleading. No bribery. Not that KC would ever stoop to such silly things. "We're visiting old haunts of yours?"_

_His eyes lightened a shade as they met KC's. "Not exactly," he replied, a wry inclination in his tone. "I said that I was going to teach you, and that is fully what I intend to do."_

_"__I never fancied a medical profession," said KC shortly, crossing her arms decisively._

_Lucifer raised an eyebrow. "A medical background is nothing to be ashamed of."_

_"__You were a doctor?"_

_The man's face instantly turned impassive. "Hardly. Also, you should stop making wild assumptions in the hope of surprising people. Even if you are correct, all you are doing is boosting your reputation to one quick of tongue. Do you wish to be known as talkative?"_

_"__No. People annoy me," announced KC, directing the words solely at the designated driver. If the man took the hint, he didn't show it._

_"__Should I get you a megaphone?" At KC's hostile glare, he amended, "Then you shouldn't go around announcing such frivolous things. Lesson one, kid, so listen closely: Don't talk about yourself. Ever. Even if someone asks. Give them an offhanded answer that leaves much unspoken but could easily be taken incorrectly. Better for someone to think they know you than to raise their suspicions."_

_For some reason, during this speech, Lucifer seemed to recoil after telling her to listen closely. Heh. It was almost as if the man had just realized that he had broken his own rule._

_Some teacher._

_"__What are we here for?" grumbled the girl, peering up at the building once more._

_There was a moment of silence during which Lucifer removed his sunglasses and stared down at them with half-lidded eyes. If KC hadn't known better, she could have sworn that she saw remorse flickering within the depths._

_"__People are in constant motion, always bustling about form one place to another. It takes a tremendous force to keep this up, but humans do this anyways. Some of them get energized from being around other people—your everyday extroverts—and then there are those who recharge by being alone—the introverts—but there are always a select few who fall under neither category."_

_KC tried to suppress a groan. "Are you really giving me a talk about respecting the opinions and beliefs of others?"_

_Lucifer took a very deep breath before continuing. "However, there are times when all sorts of people meet at crossroads. During these strange happenings, even the most unlikely can end up allies, even friends."_

_"__Is this going anywhere?"_

_The man ran a hand down his face, brow furrowed in "discreet" irritation, and muttered something under his breath in some Slavic language. KC shrugged when Lucifer shot her a sidelong glance. It really wasn't her fault. The guy could beat around the bush if she let him._

_"__My point is," he said, inhaling slowly, "that anyone is capable of meeting someone."_

_"__Oh, God, are you giving me the The Talk?" KC drew back, horrified. "You are, aren't you?! Gross! Boys are weird and have cooties and-"_

_"__What I'm _trying _to say is that it's possible for people to meet more than once!" he practically spat, but the girl caught the humored expression that momentarily colored the man's countenance._

_At this, KC frowned. "But a meeting only happens once, not twice. People can forget, but a meeting is a one-time thing."_

_For the first time that day, an approving smile stretched across Lucifer's face. "Knowing this, how is it possible for two different people to meet at two different times?"_

_"__It isn't."_

_"__Incorrect."_

_"__What?" KC laughed. "Okay, you're just screwing with me. I gotcha. So what's the real answer?"_

_"__How should I word this in a way you could understand..?" The man inclined his head to one side. After a second, he turned to fully face KC, sticking the tip of his sunglasses in his mouth so that he could use his hands to talk. "What if someone went to the future and met their future spouse?"_

_"__Tha'd be creepy," said KC shortly._

_Lucifer palmed his forehead. An actual facepalm from the Lord of Mystery himself. "No, think of it like this... A younger version of the time traveler would be meeting an older version of someone they aren't suppose to meet for another ten, maybe twenty years."_

_"__Isn't that scientifically impossible?"_

_Insert dramatic sigh. "Yes, and my point is-"_

_"__You've totally lost me," KC said blankly. "Am I suppose to be following you to a tee? 'Cause I'm really far behind right now. I'm so lost. Like, Bermuda-lost."_

_Lucifer took his sunglasses out of his mouth and hooked them to the collar of his shirt. "I'm trying to convey that supernatural occurrences may _sound_ probable but that doesn't make them real."_

_"__Oh." KC felt herself flush. "Well how was I suppose to know that? Jeez, you'd ramble 'til the cows come home if I let you! I knew you'd suck at this teaching thing!" Then again, none of the crap the man just spewed made a lick of sense. If all supernatural stuff was like that, how in the world could _anyone _keep up, much less _like _it?_

_A soft laugh, though a little hoarse, rumbled from the man's throat. "Now that's up for debate. I happen to know a very accomplished apprentice of mine who grew into a fine poster of the independent spirit."_

_"__Did you train James Bond?" asked KC suspiciously._

_Lucifer looked downright appalled. "How old do you think I am? Seventy?"_

_"__Forty-five," KC shrugged again._

_"__I'm twenty-four."_

_KC locked eyes with the other. "You are not! You look nothing like a young person!"_

_"__Gee, thanks."_

_"__And you did it again," declared KC triumphantly. When Lucifer raised his eyebrows in question, she added, "You broke your own rule. That's twice now. I know that you were dying when you came back to America and ended up here, _and _I know your age."_

_It took a moment, but it dawned on Lucifer; KC could see it in the man's eyes. Though hidden behind colored contacts, she still caught the pride shining through the bright blue lenses. "Very good, KC. Now, aren't you curious as to why I brought you to such a place?"_

_KC's expression turned deadpan. "That's what I've been trying to get out of you for the past ten minutes!"_

_"__You see, KC, today you are going to learn about how the human mind copes with certain stimuli. Tempsforth and I have quite a history together—one that I refuse to delve into—but are more than curious to see what you can make of it. Today, I want you to walk straight into the building and see how far you can get before someone stops you."_

_KC's face contorted as she processed this information. "What does this have to do with people's reactions?"_

_Lucifer unbuckled his seat belt and pulled the keys from the silence engine. "I spent my first months back in the States in this hospital and are quite familiar with its staff. However, they are not exactly... _fond _of me, nor the experiences they had with me. Therefor, when I accompany you, they will pretend as though they do not see me. They will not speak to me, look or me, or give any inclination to my existence."_

_"__Why would they ignore you?" asked KC in blunt curiosity._

_"__My illness was something of a fright back then, and they didn't have a cure," replied Lucifer, but KC noted the way his voice dipped lower with each word, as though he were having to drag it out of himself one word at a time. "Also, I almost inflected a child."_

_"__...Oh. Okay."_

_Instead of the uneasy silence KC had expected to manifest, Lucifer barreled right on through it as though this didn't affect him in the least._

_"__When you interact with people, I want you to notice how they react with their bodies more than what they tell you. Actions speak louder than words, and the sooner you learn to read body language, the better off you will be in life. As you go, I won't interact you with, but I won't leave you side. I'll point you in the direction I want you to go, but I won't speak or distract you in any other way. Should someone confront you, I will not help you, but I won't let them hurt you if they try. Remember that this is a simple exercise and that nothing will go wrong so long as you keep a hand on the situation. Assert yourself, but don't seem bossy or disrespectful. I'd like for us both to get out of this in one piece," he smiled wryly._

_KC nodded, slowly drinking everything in. "Did you bribe these people to ignore you?" she asked. For some reason, the idea that no one would acknowledge his existence was a little creepy, but how would they be able to pull off _not_ glancing at him out of the corners of their eyes? Humans are natural predators and their eyes are drawn to movement, so how would this all play out?_

_"__No," Lucifer shook his head, "but they will carry on with their duties simply as though I do not exist. While we are in here, only you will communicate with me—only you would _want _to communicate with me—but we will not speak to each other directly. That might earn you a few strange glances."_

_KC eyed the man. "Are you going in wearing an invisibility cloak?"_

_"__What did I tell you about the supernatural?" Lucifer's eyes narrowed._

_"__It doesn't exist."_

_"__Good girl." Nodding firmly, the man pulled a leather-bound notebook from the backseat and tucked the red object into a pocket sewn into the inside of his jacket. "Let's go, Madam KC. And by all means," he grinned slyly, "lead the way."_

* * *

><p><strong>July 1st<strong>

All I could say was that I was glad that I wasn't wearing a stuffy bag over my head. Granted, I _was _wearing another infernal blindfold, but this one was more comfortable than my previous adornments and allowed me to sleep much more easily. Or maybe it was the lack of being chained upright. Either way, sleeping hunched in the back of a vehicle felt a lot more comfy than I remembered.

No one spoke during the entire ride, or at least what I was awake to hear. Usually, I was a light sleeper, awakening at the slightest of noises, but I was beginning to doubt my alertness after the capture; who knew what L had injected me with... Every once in a while, one of the men from the front seat would clear his throat or sneeze. The average person might say that the silence was unbearable, but after forever and a century of solitary confinement, I was thrilled to be able to hear the wind rushing over the car, the way it swayed to one side when another vehicle blew past us, the sound of squealing tires all around.

Yep. This was the life.

I had no idea how long we rode—I fell in and out of sleep the whole ride—but I could practically sense when we were getting closer to our destination; I swear I felt the air in the vehicle grow heavier.

In the end, when the car came to a halt, the ringing of a cell phone caught my attention. I tuned in instantly and recognized the hushed voice of the chief as he answered it.

"Oh, right. ...I don't believe so. ...That won't be a problem, no. ...Are you sure, sir? We could- ...Okay... Right. Affirmed. We'll bring her to you."

My curiosity piked as the phone call ended and the shuffling of fabric met my ears. "L specifying orders?" I guessed, trying my best not to sound smug.

"I'm going to remove your blindfold now, Ishi-san," said Chief Yagami's voice quietly. I stiffened as I felt a strong hand on my head, but was a good little girl and didn't move as the cloth fell away from my eyes.

Lo and behold. Wanna take a jab at where we were?

It was the hotel where I had last stayed with Autumn and Beyond.

* * *

><p><strong>Date Unknown<strong>

When Autumn came to, there was no first thing that she noticed. Things seemed to occur around her, but her mind couldn't seem to put the pieces together in her mind to form a solid picture. It was almost as if she were trying to view her life by looking at its reflection in a shattered concave mirror; everything was upside-down and multiplicative.

Eventually, she recognized the smell of cleaning supplies and the soft bedding that swaddled her. Granted, a hospital had been the last assumption of where she figured herself to end up, but she couldn't say that she wasn't displeased. She didn't seem to be in pain anymore, and she could blink just fine.

Slowly and carefully, the girl bit her lip. A bolt of delight went through her when a sharp prick of pain ignited.

She could _move_. She could really move.

Now grinning, Autumn raised her head and, once realizing that her movement were completely uninhibited, sat up. The seven-year-old ran her hand along the top of the light blue covers that had been tucked under her sides.

Her room was tiny and bare of furniture albeit the bed, an IV stand whose tubes poked into the crook of her elbow, and a single table positioned adjacent to the mattress. Everything in the room was some soft shade of pink, blue, or green, including the door to her left. All in all, the room wasn't much to look at. Instead, the young girl looked herself over carefully.

Her head and right shoulder were thoroughly bandaged, multiple scratches ran the length of what skin she could see when she peeled away the blankets, and there was a sturdy cast that encased her right leg from just under the knee downwards. Despite the slight wooziness that plagued her mind, Autumn felt fine otherwise.

_Physically_ she felt fine, not mentally.

As soon as her memories began to come back piece by piece, the girl could feel her palms growing more sweaty by the second. She had no doubt that when she had tripped and fallen into the road, it was either the police or the person who had almost hit her who had called 911, or the Japanese equivalent, and had her taken in. Autumn was honestly surprised that she didn't awake in handcuffs. Overall, the entire "mission" had been a complete flop. Who knew how long she had been out, or what had happened to the files she had made off with. What would BB think? Had he moved on to a new location, or had he waited for her to return?

The questions and swirling emotions slowly morphed into a steady throbbing in Autumn's head and she clutched her forehead, grunting faintly. Worrying wouldn't help her situation in the slightest, but she couldn't help it. She was in a strange country where she didn't speak the native language, she was _out of her own time_ where all of the technology was almost too simplistic for her to work with, her mentor had dropped off of the face of the earth only for Beyond to pipe up and say that L had captured her, and now she was laying in a hospital bed, badly hurt, with no idea what was going on, who she could trust, or what was going to happen to her.

Autumn didn't know that she was crying until a light sob sent a shudder down her spine. The girl tentatively reached for her face and felt the wetness around her eyes and cheeks, quickly wiping the salty drips with the sleeve of her gown. However, as soon as she pulled her arm away and saw the darkened spots on the otherwise snow-white fabric, she felt the dam break and an entire flood gushed from her eyes.

The girl wrapped her arms around her knees, drawing them up against her chest as she began to rock herself. Though she cried silently, she felt the force of each sob in her heart.

Why was this happening to her?

She never asked to be here. Never once did she have a burning desire to be dragged all over... what was the saying? Hell and half of Georgia? That sounded right. Autumn had grown fond of her mentor over the long weeks she had relied on the woman, but KC was not her mother. KC could never replace Cassandra Hall. Cassandra had been dedicated to her cause, even willing to die if need be, but Cassandra would have fought the world for her family's sake. KC had no family to speak of. If she did, Autumn had never heard her talk about it.

Autumn longed for the warmth of her mother's arms on those cold nights, the gentle tone in which she spoke when something went wrong, that carefree laugh when something surprised her, the way she looked at her daughter as though she were a jewel among millions. Autumn missed the long nights when her mother came home after a long day at work; the two of them would stay up all night watched cartoons that Autumn had recorded during the day. She missed the look in Cassandra's eye when Autumn was told that her father was coming home from wherever he had been stationed.

Her father.

Autumn remembered her father, too, but not as well. She had always called him Papa, because seeing him so fleetingly had forced out any reason for her to learn what others called him. He was her papa, and she was his Lady Virginia. The two would sprawl out in the floor and arm wrestle with each other until one of them cried out, "Mercy!" To this day, she hadn't forgotten the loving gleam in his eye, the one he reserved specifically for her.

But in the end, Papa always had to leave. As a spy for some secret organization, he was always being shuttled around the world to foreign countries where he would work under the head honcho and bring them down by the end of the year. He eliminated the competition, was never caught, and managed to be a good father, all at the same time. Even though he was never around, Autumn never judged him for it. To see the unadulterated joy in her mother's eyes when she learned that her husband was coming home was something that Autumn deemed special from a very young age. Something that delicate and rare was to be treasured, not abused.

Besides, it was selfish to want to keep her papa all to herself, and with him working all the time meant that Cassandra only had to be called in on the rare job. It was those rare occasions that her mother would call up Mr. Wutt, an old friend from her childhood, to watch over Autumn. The girl didn't remember her old caretaker that well. He was always quiet and watched her without saying much. What really stood out was that sad look he always seemed to bare whenever he thought that Autumn wasn't looking. Cassandra had never told her daughter if there had been a Mrs. Wutt once upon a time, and Autumn's childish mind never thought to ask.

She wished that her curiosity had been stronger back then. If only she could have learned more about her family, she wouldn't feel as though she was forgetting them now.

"Hey there."

Autumn leaped into a crouch, only to crumble and fall to one side when a splitting pain tore a hole in her side. The girl cried out softly, clutching her abdomen. When she pulled her hand away, she was fully expecting to see redness, but her hand was clean.

"Please don't be frightened. I'm not going to hurt you."

The seven-year-old's eyes shot up to the woman who seemingly manifested in her room. Autumn recognized the police uniform, but the dark hair slicked back into a tight bun was new. To her surprise, the woman had startlingly violet eyes.

"How did you get in here? When did you get here?" demanded Autumn, but her voice came out quieter than she had meant. She quickly wiped the tears from her face with her free hand, the other having returned to her cradling side.

The woman's lip curled into a wry, but soft, smile. "The door, when you were crying." Autumn tensed as the woman motioned to the room. "Is it alright if I have a little talk with you?"

When Autumn didn't reply, only staring/glaring for all it was worth, the woman dropped her eyes to the floor.

"I understand," she said quietly before raising her eyes to meet Autumn's. "I'm Detective Aomori Sakura, but I believe that you're more familiar with one's surname coming last. You may call me Sakura, Detective Aomori, or simply Detective. What would you like for me to call you?"

Autumn's eyes narrowed. For some reason, the officer's wording seemed off, and it set off the warning bells in her head. This detective knew that she wasn't Japanese, and her English was flawless, so giving her Japanese alias wouldn't do her any good. She needed to assume her more America name in order to make it look as though she were cooperating.

"Cassie..." Autumn whispered into her knees. "Cassie Hall."

Her mother had never been called "Cassie" in her life, but Autumn needed to seem young, innocent, and scared. Cassie was the perfect name for a girl her age, even though she had to change her alias a tad. It felt almost wrong to do so, but it was a miracle that Susan had allowed her to assume her mother's name after the heart attack. Autumn would use her mother's name until the day she died, even if that meant altering it to fit the occasion.

Cassandra Hall would live in her daughter's heart, even if her last breath had been taken.

The detective blinked slowly, as though surprised that she had answered so easily.

"Where are we, ma'am?" continued Autumn in a trembling voice. For the first time, she allowed for her sobs to become vocal. She needed to appear weak and harmless, and crying more should help do the trick. "What happened?"

Detective Aomori offered her a gentle smile and said, "You're in safe hands, Cassie. This hospital has saved my life more than once since I joined the force."

At this, Autumn looked up. "Miss, am I in trouble? I hurt a lot all over."

The woman faltered in whatever she had been about to say when Autumn tagged on that last sentence. What the girl really wanted to ask was, "How come you speak like an American but have a Japanese name? Why did you join the police? How long have you been a detective, or how long have you been at the rank of detective? Do you have a partner? If so, is he or she here? Do you know what I did?" but she said none of the aloud. In reality, the girl quelled her curiosity for the sake of avoiding jail.

Jail.

KC was being held in prison. Maybe Autumn needed to be thrown in prison in order to find her..? No. That idea was just stupid. Kids her age weren't thrown in jail, not even for making off with important documents. She hoped. But the fact still remained that Autumn had a good plan: seem innocent and cry when things get out of hand. Childish innocence would be all standing between her and a life under constant surveillance.

"I'd like to ask you some questions, but I don't want to stress you out if you're feeling bad," said the detective selectively.

Autumn shook her head and pulled her knees in closer. "It's okay. You can ask me now."

Detective Aomori hesitated but pulled a sheet of paper from her pocket regardless. "You see, Cassie, my police station was robbed. The alarms went off, everyone was running all over the place, but in the end, it was just a little girl." Autumn tried not to wince. "That little girl was you, Cassie."

The woman paused, as though waiting for Autumn to comment on something. When the younger of the two remained silent, the detective resumed speaking.

"Why did you break into the chief's office and steal two files?" Detective Aomori asked.

Autumn resisted the urge to bury her face. This was all falling apart. Fast.

"I wanted to find my mama."

To the officer's credit, she didn't recoil. Autumn felt as though she herself deserved the Noble Peace Prize for not flinching either. She hadn't expected for _that _to come out of her mouth, but it had, so now she was stuck with her story.

"She went missing a long time ago to find my papa and she never came back."

That was the abridged version of the truth, but it was far from the actual reason of the break-in. Cassandra never returned from Costa Rica, but neither had Papa. They both died of heart attacks, and it took months for the news to reach Autumn and Mr. Wutt. In the end, her caretaker referred her to an ally: President of the Unites States, Susan Robinson, also head of the American mafia. It had been "Auntie Sue" who had sent Cassandra after her husband when no word had been heard from him in over a year, and Susan felt partially responsible for stripping Autumn of her family. In the end, the President had had her shuttled to Arizona where Autumn had first met KC.

"Auntie Jess said that Mama was dead, but that can't be true! It just can't be!"

The tears streaming down her face were an even mixture of acting and remembrance. She hated those long months without her mother and father, and then for the stricken visage of Mr. Wutt to tell her that she would never see her parents again...

Autumn was strong, but not this strong. Her strength came from her physical body, not her mind. It had always been this way, almost as a sort of compromise. So long as she was tormented by the mental devastation, Autumn Virginia Hall was cursed with hundred-pound barbells and complex wiring. She had tried to keep herself active, to constantly strive improve herself in wake of the tragedy so that she wouldn't dwell on her loss, but it always found its way back into her mind, through the cracks and crevices and into her soul. It made her want to curl up in a corner and let the world pass her by.

Autumn Virginia Hall, dying of shame, misery, and loneliness.

Detective Aomori bit her lip, eyeing the paper in her hands with an uneasy expression. "Thank you, Cassie. I believe that's all I need from you right now. Would it be okay if I came back tomorrow?"

The girl nodded before tucking her head between her chest and knees. Her neck throbbed dully, but the pain just didn't compare to what she would feel if she had to face the real world. Reality was harsh, too harsh, and Autumn was ready to go home.

This wasn't an adventure anymore.

The detective left as she had arrived—silently. The only inclination to her leaving was the soft click that reached Autumn's keen ears. No sooner than the door shut behind the woman did the girl uncurl herself and swing her feet over the side of the bed.

This may not have been the exciting adventure that Autumn had labeled it in the beginning, and this may have pushed her to the ends of her rope, but Autumn still had one last job to do, and she refused to let herself fail.

Autumn would never abandon her companions.

Setting her bare feet upon the freezing tiles, the girl pushed herself into a standing position, swaying precariously as the leg with the cast threatened to give way. It hurt a little bit, but for some reason, it just refused to support her weight. Gritted her teeth, Autumn ignored this fact and instead used her one good leg and arms to shuffle around to the sole window in the room.

Granted, her last experience with a window hadn't gone so well, but hospitals didn't have the same external structure as police stations or homes. The windows in places of medical treatment were always able to open in the event that the patient was in need of fresh air. Knowing this, Autumn hobbled the few steps it took to reach the window from the bed and leaned against the wall. Brushing the pastel blinds to one side, the child peered outside and felt a wide grin stretch across her face.

Apparently, the hospital was unaware of her "obsession" with climbing out windows, because she was in a room on the first floor.

Whoopsie daisy...

* * *

><p>Great minds think alike.<p>

...Forget I ever thought something so corny.

Chief Yagami helped me out of the car, watching me closely as I hopped out of my cramped crouch directly into a standing position at his side. At his suspicious glance, I shrugged and said amiably, "Not a big fan of sitting."

"Ryuzaki-san does that too," exclaimed Matsuda with a laugh.

If looks could kill, the chief would have fried that boy's head to ashes. I, on the other hand, couldn't help but to feel a spark ignite.

Ryuzaki? As in Rue Ryuzaki? The alias that Beyond used?

How... _intriguing_~

As the two officers led me up the steps, Yagami pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the handcuffs. Instead of pulling them off and rubbing my wrists, I decided to baffle them as much as possible while it was just the three of us; I slid them off and hooked them through one of my belt loops. At their nearly identical puzzled expressions, I jerked my thumb towards the building.

"Your boss live here?"

I guess that neither of them understood my motive—neither of them bothered to ask for the cuffs—merely exchanging a glance. Matsuda held open the door in a strangely mature fashion as the chief led the way inside.

The duo took me up a few flights of steps—what did these guys have against the elevator?—and down a freakishly long hallway. (Funny. I didn't remember half of this being here.) Luckily for me, the room number was easier to remember: 666.

Wouldn't you know it? Guess L isn't superstitious.

The chief rapped his knuckles on the door in a soft but firm pattern. A moment later, I was greeted by the sight of a third officer dressed as equally snazzy as his comrades. This dude had an anfro to go with his tough-guy getup, so it was needless to say that I was happy with the turnout.

"Aizawa Suichi." Chief Yagami sounded almost relieved. "Is Ryuzaki-san still here?"

Afro Dude, ahem, _Aizawa _ran his eyes up and down my figure. "Who is she?" he asked grudgingly.

"I'm with the Department of Health and Safety. You mind answering my survey?" I raised an eyebrow.

I swear I could see Afro Dude docking all of my brownie points right then and there. Guess someone doesn't share my sense of humor.

What a surprise.

Aizawa's eyes narrowed as they locked with mine. The man held himself in a 'no nonsense' kind of stance, as though I were a naughty schoolgirl and he was the principal. It might have been just my imagination, but his face momentarily contorted in puzzlement when his roaming eyes landing on the handcuffs.

"Ryuzaki-san will see her now. Alone," he added begrudgingly.

Matsuda looked up in surprise. "Why would he-?" but a look from the chief silenced him.

"Sounds like a date," I said, rubbing my hands together. For the first time in a long time, I relished in the rush of adrenaline that spiked my system. "I feel rather under-dressed. Oh, will there be an appetizer? I'm not really one for salad."

God, how I've missed being cocky.

"You're going straight to the entree," growled Aizawa.

Oh ho ho... Somebody doesn't like me~

Ever the gentleman, Afro Dude held the door open, the most condescending expression known to mankind adorning his face. Seriously. _Glaring _does not even begin to cover it. I gave the three men a polite curtsy (and a knowing smirk) before stepping inside. The door was slammed behind me with far more zeal than I've ever personally encountered.

Yep. I am _so_ his favorite criminal.

Pausing at the door, I listened intently at the hush-hush conversation occurring on the other side. I couldn't make out every word, but it sounded as though Aizawa was arguing about all of the reasons I shouldn't be here, Yagami was trying to reason with him, and Matsuda was putting in the odd comment between his superior's speeches.

At least I made a good first impression.

When I fully turned to access the room, I was greeted with a rather large space. Plush carpets, an extensive kitchenette to my right, and high ceilings instantly spiked my wariness through the roof; L didn't strike me as the fancy type—just brutally honest and inconsiderate. Directly in front of me was some sort of open foyer that stretched across the long space towards twin windows that arched up towards each other to form a half circle when paired together, under which sat a small wooden writing desk. The room opened up to the left into another room I couldn't make out all too well from the front doorway, an open bathroom door past the kitchenette on my right. The walls were covered in a cream wallpaper, decorated with soft jade flourishes that danced across in lightly textured brushstrokes; the carpet was a dark maroon that slowly faded into a musky pink the closer it got to the windows.

Now, some people would just assume that L was in the room to the left, turn the corner, and be done with it, but I still had one kickass impression left to leave. If I ever wanted to make it back to my own time, I would need to show some serious sense of class without making myself appear downright paranoid, crazy, stupid, reckless, or stuck up.

...This was going to go so well.

_B, if you're reading this, I could use a little insight right about now._

Yeah, yeah, I know. Resorting to cheap tricks. But _you _try taking on a detective like L. Go on. I dare you. But yep, _so _not going in blind.

Not surprisingly, no memory-like voices floated up from the back of my mind.

Asshole.

Instead of striding around the corner like a blunt idiot, I pivoted to my right and ambled up to the kitchenette.

Microwave oven, microwave, mini-fridge, spice cabinet, three shelves nailed roughly above the cabinet whose top was a measly two square feet. Not much to work with, and not to toot my own horn, but I'm hardly Bob Joe off the street.

After all, I didn't get a major in biochemistry for nothing. Who did you think made all my quirky drug assortments?

Although, minoring in forensic science helped with predicting bodily reactions when exposed to certain compounds.

Alrighty then. Spice cabinet. I need...

"You are not the sort of woman I presumed to be susceptible to spontaneous detours."

The voice was soft, a decibel above a murmur, but radiating power unlike anything I had heard prior. It was neither cold nor calculating, as the media had always made out "the other side" to be, but a smooth monotone where one syllable flowed gracefully into the next. Seductive, I might have said had I been "susceptible" to that sort of thing. In a creepier mindset, I would have said that it reminded me of Beyond's rough undertone, just more... honey-coated.

Shinatty, strike me down.

"You are hardly the sort of man to presume anything, and the mental capacity and capabilities of my mind are as much of a mystery to myself as they are to you."

Fuck. Yes.

Go Team Me.

Replacing the ginger extract with a hint of regretful longing, I instead cracked open the mini-fridge. There were three things sitting on the shelves: a bag of multiple Ziploc evidence bags (the heck?), some sort of Japanese coffee, and an opaque pitcher. Acting purely on impulse, I collected the pitcher, set it on the counter, and shut the refrigerator. Second thought. I popped the top on the pitcher—herbal tea—and plucked the ginger once again. Selecting a mug from the cabinet, I poured myself a cup of tea, sprinkled in a little ginger, and returned the pitcher to its chilly little home.

After all, what's a girl to do? First time meeting a strange, clever, crafty, little detective who kept me in bondage for forever and a year. Did you really expect me to just sit back and flash him a grin?

I spun on my heels, a childhood song momentarily resurfacing, and faced the broad doorway leading into the mystery room.

Well, here goes nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>August 10th<strong>

Beyond felt the harsh light of the desk lamp before he saw it. The light bulb was a blinding yellow color, its light hot against his flesh, and he groggily reached to turn it off before he even opened his eyes. Not a second later, his eyes snapped open.

The office was empty, dark, with the exception of a faint flickering coming from the street light outside at the corner, a hint of moonlight turning the glow silver. Raising his head out of a rather cramped position—head stooped forward to rest on his knees while the rest of his crouched body sat poised in the desk chair—the man sought a less bright light source. After a minute or so of fumbling around in the near dark, BB took a deep breath and stretched his legs out in front of him.

Like a normal human being.

A frown stretched across the man's mouth as his gaze wandered to the desk. On top of the wooden surface sat a red substances encased by a glass cage, restrained only by a metal plate screwed onto its top.

The strawberry jam had set out all night.

His lip curled on instinct. If left unrefrigerated, jam often acquired a vile aftertaste, even if the paste itself failed to sour. Regardless, he was no fan of its few flaws... should he still see them as few. Gaining a sudden dislike of the food probably put a nick in his original assumption.

The escaped convict put out a hand slowly, half expecting the jar to launch itself at him across the distance, but instead scooped it up before any thought could be proven or disproved. Staring down at the questionable condiment, Beyond felt a tingle run down his back. Not a shudder nor tremor, but an unnatural feeling that slithered down his spine like a serpent. He could almost feel its stinging venom, the poison seeping into his veins, its tormented mind reaching out for his own-

Beyond quickly jerked open a drawer, chucked the jam inside, and slammed it shut. He heard the sound of shattering glass, felt the clatter of the individual shards before he had time to wrench his hand away form the handle.

What the hell was happening to him? For a moment, it almost seemed as though he was demoting himself once again into the serial killer seeking to bring down L—that twisted mindset and hollow emotions—but something wasn't quite right. Looking at the jam alone shouldn't have drawn such a rise from him, coinciding similarities to blood aside. No. This feeling was... hauntingly familiar, like when he had hallucinated seeing A.

Yes! There it was again: that undeniable presence, quivering, hiding away inside, sending shudders all throughout the rest of his body. If only he could put a name to it...

...No. It couldn't be. But it _was_.

The feeling.

Dread.

Something horrible had happened.

_You're losing it. Nothing's happened._

It took him a moment to realize that he _was _hearing voices in his head, but also to remember that this voice meant that he wasn't as crazy as he had previously been led to believe.

The nimble loctopus crawled into view off of the wall and out of Beyond's peripheral vision. Its sleek steel body crawled with cat-like grace over the documents and electronics that littered the desktop, unseeing eyes scanning its surroundings with whirring monitors that echoed in the back of its host's mind.

Beyond drew back, a wary feeling gnawing in the back of his mind.

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong. His mind felt more... alert. He could have sworn that everything seemed a little more in focus now than before. Sure, everything still had its hazy reddish tint, but as he was the only person in the room, it wasn't as though he had any floating names or lifespans to read.

And then it clicked.

_Autumn. Where's the girl? _asked Beyond stiffly.

_Probably ran away. Personally, I wouldn't blame her, _Trey sniffed, shuffling over to the corner farthest away from the schizophrenic. _Frankly, I think the question you _should _be asking is 'where's KC?' but she hasn't crossed your mind in... how long now? _A strong flash of disapproval came from the mechanical mind of the technological marvel. _Have you forgotten why we're here?_

The knot growing in Beyond's stomach clenched tighter and the man slowly drug himself to his feet; after all, Trey was right. Caught up in his own complications, he hadn't given the peculiar woman a second thought in quite a while now. He might say that he felt a little guilty, and he wouldn't be lying.

The first person to ever look at him as though he were a human being, and he had up and forgotten about her. Even worse, he had left her in _his _hands.

He had left KC to the "mercy" of L, and no one, not a single god-forsaken soul in this world, deserved that fate.

The graphire was in his hands before Beyond had registered what he was doing, but just as he was beginning to pull up _He Who Knows Me Best_, the man felt his hands still at his sides.

Why was he feeling so strange, so out of place?

_When was the last time you inhaled a good pound of sugar? _prompted Trey irritably. _With KC gone, you're operating this baby solo, remember? You need sugar. Pure sugar. And a crap-ton of it, too._

Beyond's eyes flickered to the drawer hesitantly at the mention of food. There was no power on earth that could get him to put another handful of _that_ into his system, and he certainly wasn't about to let _Trey _of all forces talk him into it. He was Beyond Birthday, and he bowed to no man or loctopus.

_Listen, I get that you're a man of pride and all that, but life is life and you, my friend, need more energy than an Energizer battery._

_Does this mean that you forgive me? _Beyond drawled, his sarcasm falling halfheartedly on deaf ears, literally.

_If you get so depleted that I cease to function, who the hell is going to keep you focused? _the mechanism grumbled.

_How sweet. You _are _warming up to me._

_Fuck you._

To the loctopus's dismay, this only drew a crooked grin across the man's face. _Your personality coincides almost identically to someone else I know._

_You don't know KC. _It came out like a threat.

_Don't I? _Beyond raised an eyebrow. His fingers flashed over the graphire's cleaved screen and the document slowly began to load.

_There's a difference between knowing what I person did and knowing them, _Trey said harshly. _There's also a difference between obtaining such knowledge _normally _and barging into their mind and acquiring it by force, but I suppose you've always anticipated a resistance from allies, haven't you?_

_Is that how you see me, as an 'ally'?_

There was a dark pause during which the schizophrenic scrolled through the new pages, the words slowly drawing an image inside of Beyond's mind.

_KC may occasionally forget who _you _really are, but don't think for a second that you're fooling me. You've killed people, innocent people, with no mercy. She did it because she was working towards a brighter future, knowing that if she bloodied her own hands, the world would be that much more innocent. Her 'business' in the mafia was limited to her own morals and judgments, and she avoided murder when given the choice. _Trey's body pivoted to face the man head-on. _I don't care what the hell those eyes of yours enable you to do, but don't think _for a second _that you're capable of playing god. You're a monster, and frankly, I don't know how KC can stand you, let alone how she can stand to let Autumn even be around you. You know what life was like back home? Do you? We had just achieved world peace. World. Freaking. Peace. And it was all thanks to KC. Now she's stuck here, and what's she done since she's been with you? How many felonies has she committed? You already made her _torture _a man, Beyond! You're sick! Hell, you make _me _sick. So, no. Don't think that even for a split second that I forgive you, that I see you with more positive feelings that this begrudging alliance, but _don't you dare _think you know KC. I don't give two shits if you can relive her memories through the graphire: _that doesn't make you the expert on someone you've know for less than half a year. _No, I don't like you, and no, I give a crap what you have to say about that. Just remember that the only reason I haven't electrocuted you to death yet is because you're the only person capable of getting KC out alive. Yeah, you're smart and are the only person able to use the graphire right now, but that doesn't make you a better person. We're not friends, Beyond, so don't even go there. Remember that when this is all over, we won't need you anymore. We need your skills right now, but we don't need _you_. Get the picture?_

The man in question merely blinked, slowly, in response. From his position on the desk's corner, the loctopus sat glaring up at Beyond, who could feel the technology's deep-rooted hatred for him as easily as though they were his own feelings. He could feel Trey's wariness about him, the distrust that always followed upon mention of his very name, the seething anger associated with KC's capture. Beyond understood good and well that Trey blamed the man for KC's 'grand disappearing act,' and that there wasn't a very good chance of redeeming himself in the biased eyes of the loctopus.

Trey would never see eye to eye with Beyond, and the adamant creature was perfectly fine with their relationship remaining all but nonexistent.

The man reclined back in the desk chair, drawing a hand along his jaw in a slow gesture, neither contemplative nor instinctual. It was true that the loctopus would probably never be his number one fan, but the schizophrenic dared believe that he was almost troubled upon hearing the other's opinion come out so bluntly. Fighting among the ranks was never good for any group, but outright hatred would come of no good.

Also, though he would never confirm it aloud, Trey's words regarding his treatment after their cooperation ceased harrowed him more than he cared to admit.

_Don't even go there_, Trey warned relentlessly. _Besides, what did you think was going to happened after KC got what she needed from you? We've found L, which was our original deal, so after you help get KC back on solid ground, you could just as well walk out. Face it, Beyond: we do not need you anymore._

_And if L refused to... cooperate? _Beyond couldn't help but ask.

_KC will make him an offer he can't refuse, _replied the loctopus stiffly. _But we won't need you. Besides, once was have what we need from L, we won't even be in the same universe. What were you planning on doing? Tagging along?_

For the first time in a very long time, the ex-murderer found himself stumped, and by an inanimate object, no less.

In all honestly, he _hadn't _thought about what he might do after he parted ways with the women. He certainly couldn't have a normal life—he had tried that once, and look where it had gotten him. Besides, who was to say that KC wouldn't rat him out to L? (It was what Trey would do.) What if something went wrong? What about then?

Where could Beyond Birthday possibly fit into the real world?

He found himself standing under the doorway between the office and the main garage, his back to the loctopus on the tabletop at his six. Sepia eyes roamed the dusty room, the occasional lack of grime from certain pieces of equipment compliments of the child, but falling on the crane hidden away on the far side near the wall. Would that be him once the women walked out? Slowly degrading, forgotten in the back corner of an abandoned garage? For all he had "contributed" to this world, was there truly anything in it that he could relate to? Once this was all over and done, what would he have to live for?

"You think too much."

Beyond didn't turn when he felt a shoulder brush up against his own. Out of the corner of his eye, he recognized A's sad smile as the young man leaned against the door frame.

"C'mon, Backup. Where's that fire? What happened to my best friend?" The teasing tone didn't suit the other, but the nostalgia that accompanied his words were welcomed all too easily. It had been too long since Beyond had heard his old companion's voice, hallucinated or otherwise, much less optimistic. Even when alive, optimism had been a rare delicacy from the usually negative boy. Stress could really take a toll on people, and Alternate was no exception.

After a short pause, Beyond murmured, "The boy you once knew is long gone, A. You and I both know that, wherever you might be now."

"Backup... the second in line..." The sadness returned to A's voice as he followed the other's line of sight to the ancient crane. There was a quiet sigh. "Did you ever wonder why you might have the eyes of a god of death?"

"Frequently," he replied, "but I never dwelled on it for long. I had goals to accomplish back then, and hadn't time to waste on questions none could answer."

A hand lightly rested on Beyond's shoulder. "I don't care if you believe in destiny or anything like that, but I personally like to think that you're capable of so much more than this. I mean, you what you can do with a little motive under your belt."

"Motive?" Beyond turned to face his old friend, skepticism ringing clear in his voice. "I lost control; you know that. I _killed _people, A. I became a murderer, just like the man I was determined to surpass. L killed you, and nothing I can do is capable of bringing you back. Instead of trying to honor your memory by playing his little game, winning, and rubbing it in his face, I created my own game and forced him to play. It was a sick, twisted game, A, just as Trey described. Granted, they were going to die anyways, but what if that was because I would have killed them regardless? You believe in fate and destiny, so tell me that it's impossible for their lifespan _not _to relate to my actions."

Alternate frowned. "I'm not going to pretend to understand knowledge beyond my grasp, but I will say that you're not the type to kill for sport. You had a goal and a plan to achieve it, nothing more. Although you might have lost sight of that goal along the way, admitting your wrongs is the first step to correcting them. You're not a lost cause, B, and standing here feeling guilty is proof of that. You're not lost, Backup. Not anymore. You just needed a little reminder."

A slight gleam reflected from a tear suspended in the man's eye, though the endearing smile on his face was what nearly earned him a hug. To Beyond's surprise, he found himself speechless before the phantom. Despite understanding that he was, once again, hallucinating, there was a familiar rush of relief that washed over Beyond with ever word the other spoke. It was almost as if Alternate was truly speaking beyond the grave.

The smile widened as A said softly, "KC might have worsened slightly since meeting you, but answer me this, Beyond Birthday: what about her affect on _you?_"

With these words, the grip on Beyond's shoulder lessened into nothingness as the specter before him dissipated with one final grin of encouragement.

"_Do me well, Backup._"

* * *

><p><strong><em>*Antimetal: the [international] scientific term for nonmetals. Fellow Americans, yes, I dared use foreign adjectives against you, but I've had Chemistry 111112 on the brain and finally have gotten a chance to put it to good use. Also, the things I learn now will be most helpful later on, seeing as how KC really did get a degree in chem. Sadly, I myself don't have the steady hands necessary for such a tedious mastery. _**

_I am never listening to Welcome to the Black Parade ever again while working on this story. Trey becomes the new Cockblocking 101 professor, Beyond gets stumped by inanimate objects, Lucifer majorly sucks at teaching, KC apparently drinks ginger-favored tea, and Autumn hops out of another window. Or maybe I should wait until I'm _not_ sick [and under the influence of multiple drugs to combat the symptoms] to write... -_-  
><em>

_Actually, I realized that since KC has been captured by L and it's just Beyond and Trey stuck together, I haven't fully accentuated the unfortunate partners' relationship with one another. Thus, this last scene. I've been getting many prompts, comments, and questions regarding the pairing situation in this story, which WILL remain a complete mystery until you, my fabulous readers, reach the chapter that [possibly] covers such romantic endeavors. ;) Sorry, dolls. Anywho-Trey and Beyond haven't really had the chance to have a complete conversation with one another, and this chapter stated it as boldly as possible: Trey no likey Beyond. None. Zilch. No lost love there if the loctopus didn't care about the guy in the first place. Therefore, it seems only natural for me to have Trey strongly oppose Beyond's increased involvement, especially when it comes to how he may see KC or Autumn. Just throwing that out as bluntly as Trey could put it. XD_

_Well, until next time, all! And may the odds be ever in your favor! ...Wait. Wrong fandom.  
><em>


	25. L

_Exams are brutal. __All I can do at this point is express my extreme love for summer break. __At least it was only seven weeks in between updates, right?  
><em>

_Alen Alyson: Your condolences are accepted with chocolate and gratitude; I am official brain-dead. DX Also, thanks! ^^ Sometimes I have to reign in my artistic spark because I often have the feeling that my descriptions are lengthening my sentences from run-on's to loquacious infinity-challengers. I'll be the next Dean Koontz with his verbose landscaping trend after taking classes to decorate the lawn of his new twenty-some THOUSAND square feet of household. o.e (Whistling innocently and kicking my feet at your last inquiry...)_

_Moka-girl: You have officially read my mind, and thus I bestow upon you my unadulterated gratification. C: I'm actually in the process of rewriting the first three chapters, as well as going back and editing everything else. As much as I love the tone in the beginning chapters, I did write them YEARS ago, so something more recent and fresh can't hurt, right?_

_I barely own the feeble remains of my mind after exams, so Death Note is a bit of a stretch._

* * *

><p><strong>L<br>(or)  
>How NOT to Impress Your Local Genius<strong>

**July 1st (still)**

I remember a time when I was younger—quite the little devil-child I was back in my day, too—when I had been fascinated by justice. Such a controversial topic, justice. Some believed in avenging angels, others in their own sort of karma, a few who acted upon their own morals rather than let others pass judgment before them—the world was full of contradictions, and its inhabitants were no better off. 'Why play God?' some asked. Others deemed it their destiny to take matters into their own hands, to punish the wicked as they saw fit. In the end, I found myself repeatedly entranced by the controlled chaos in which we operate. Opposing sides, always clashing, always seeking to bring down others, even if the foe is unknown.

Sometimes, I wonder if the mass confusion back in my reality was what pushed me into the arms of the strange man who rescued me from the orphanage, and the stranger life he led. Was I simply standing on tiptoe at the window of the candy shop, now entering when the door was left open for too long? Or perhaps I was just over-thinking all over this.

Or I was stalling and letting my tea grow cold.

Rather than taking one final, cliché breath, I sipped my tea as I entered the room.

Pastel.

That was the first thing that came to mind once I got over the shock of how deathly pale the entire room appeared. White walls, white-tiled floor masked beneath an equally faint rug—the ceiling was white, the window curtains were white, the-

Okay, you get it. A crap-ton of white.

Surprisingly enough, the various pieces of furniture were _not _white, but some strange shade that resembled the color just enough to make one look twice. A couch, three chairs, a beanbag (huh?), with a chestnut coffee table positioned dead-center. The couch framed one side of the long wooden table, two chairs opposite it, the third chair at the head with the beanbag sitting at the other end. It was in the chair on the farther side of the room—and at the head, I noticed—that he sat. Well, I say 'sat' but it was more like a controlled crouch, like a panther poised to strike during a hunt. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt, fading blue jeans, and an arcane expression on his otherwise impassive countenance. Eyes as dark as his ebony hair bore into my own green with startling potency, unblinking—they trailed my every move without faltering. Dusky bags shadowed the hollows of his eye sockets, but his attentiveness was too sharp for that of a tired man. Under the unadulterated scrutiny of his gaze, I suddenly felt as though I were that young, reckless teenager again, too rambunctious for my own good and with an ignorance so vast that it covered hectares.

So _this _was the infamous L.

I offered a polite smile (mentally kicking myself that he had rendered me speechless without uttering a single word himself) and perched myself on the arm of one of the chairs. One foot tucked under me, the other bent at a slight angle, I took a long sip of tea and gathered my thoughts. Once I was positive that I wouldn't make too big a fool out of myself, I said, "Greetings and salutations, L. Or perhaps, as your officer allies would refer, Ryuzaki."

Owlish eyes never left my form as he drew a saucer into view, it having previously been hidden behind his knees which were curled up so close to him that he was almost in a fetal position, and plucked a cherry from its depths. With a slow, deliberate movement, he popped the fruit into his mouth.

"Hello, Jessica McGee."

I almost spewed tea all over myself and the coffee table. Luckily for me, I had swallowed a moment before, so all I did was blanch, and hopefully not too obviously.

How the hell did L find out about my alias?

Rather than flip shit (or the table), I lowered my cup a hair and replied smoothly, "How thoughtful of you to save me from a long and boring introduction. Your skills are not lacking." Here, I allowed one side of my mouth to twitch into a smirk. "Anything else would have been a disappointment."

Sure, my speech was a heck of a lot more formal than it had been in a while, but since I wasn't constantly trying to preserve my position as the underboss of the mafia whilst managing my "relationship" with Madam President Robinson, I had little use for it in this... reality. But because karma has to go and bite me in the ass, here we were. Still, old habits die hard: it was all I could do not to whip out my "borrowed" handcuffs and use them in a very creative fashion to get information out of the detective. Like his name. And the secrets of his trade. Maybe his mentor's home address and phone number.

Screw it.

I was psyched to meet the guy.

Here I was in some whacked-up universe where everything is topsy-turvy and I finally get to meet the detective who's been screwing with me since day one. Well, day eight... or nine... but the point still stands. He was sitting not five feet from me: this world's greatest detective.

Yep. I was getting excited. Sue me.

If L couldn't feel the waves of exhilaration emanating from me, the guy must have been brain dead. That, or he read my body language and decided not to let on. Either way, the man carried on as though we were talking about the weather, and weren't two intellectuals tensely sizing up one another. I had to admire the guy's self-control.

"I have never encountered one as persistent as you," he intoned, drawing another cherry from the depths of his cup. L eyed it, unblinking, as though examining it for any faults, before the fruit disappeared into his mouth, stem and all. "Most people who attempt to find me are blunt or decide to publicize their efforts; you carried on in secrecy, using the tricks of petty criminals and those less fortunate in life."

He paused, almost as if he were carefully pondering his next words—or was completely entranced by his newest cherry. I sat very still, trying to mimic his controlled persona. For whatever reason, there was something about the guy that made my guard fly sky-high. The way he worded things... he almost made me wonder how much he really knew and how much he was willing to let onto.

"You're a tricky man to locate, I'll give you that," I replied, sipping my tea. The irony of the ginger extract was not lost on me. Most commonly known for its healing attributes, ginger was a popular household remedy, as well as its universal reputation as an aphrodisiac. Lucifer always kept the stuff around in his creepy greenhouse when we moved to Virginia, but I never asked him why he grew so much of the stuff until I was older, at which point he explained that the root helped to ease pain as well as increase performance in the circulatory and nervous systems. Maybe I should be eating this stuff as much as I do sweets. "However, others who tried before me used similar methods. I prefer to think outside of the box."

"A lesser detective would assume that you were hinting at the visit you and Beyond Birthday payed to Amane Misa on the day she went to Aoyama," countered L, neither forcefully nor aggressively.

I forced my face to remain impassive, but I mentally swore to the high heavens. How the hell did he know _that? _Did L just have this superpower to know anything and everything about people? Externally, I raised an eyebrow and said, "If you like."

Rather than give a snappy comeback, the detective stuck out his tongue. I almost did a double take until I noticed the string of cherry stems on his tip, all tied together to form a sort of floral circlet. The man must have been eating cherries long before I arrived in order to make something that intricate in such crisp moves without inhibiting his speech. Ignoring my questioning look, L drew the masterpiece from his tongue, examined it with narrowed eyes, and pocketed the creation.

"You told me that you had lost your captive," said L without making eye contact; he was back to digging around in his cup of cherries, "so how is it that he managed to accompany you to Aoyama to meet Misa-san?"

Damn. He had me there. Not to mention that all of these timeskip things were screwing with my math. I had said a month, right? Two? Or maybe the drugs were still playing tricks with my mind. Surely I had "lost" Beyond by then.

I gave him a one-shoulder shrug and swirled my teacup with a coy smile.

Play it cool, KC. Just don't fuck up.

"Was that what she told you when you arrested her under the guise of drug possession?" I said calmly, my mind racing to remember what I knew about her arrest. "Surely the public couldn't know that you really suspected her of being the Second Kira. That is, of course, why you arrested Light Yagami as well."

_And Soichiro._

I almost blew tea out my nose. _Beyond?!_

_Hell, no. I told that asshole to piss off._

_Trey? _I asked cautiously.

_Bingo, sister! Now, down to business. You little friend here arrested the two Kiras, but neither of them seems to remember whodunit. Apparently, Mr. Yagami decided that he couldn't handle his son being accused, so he asked Ryuzaki to lock him up in case he tried to do something stupid._

I was still reeling in the fact that a boring monotone was no longer speaking, but the nifty AI loctopus who had been vacant from my mind for far too long. _How do you know all that? _I asked, trying not to sound too amazed.

Here, Trey shot me the image of two thumbs up. _Your apprentice kicks ass. Broke into the police station, grabbed some offhanded files and let me scan them before she landed herself in the hospital. Well, she didn't know that I was tagging along, but I kinda had to ditch her and run back to the garage 'cause your little psychopath was about to do something stupid._

I shot L a glance, only to see that the detective was watching me with a keen eye, silent. I would have to play my cards and not give too much away.

_We'll have to play catch-up later. Major details now._

_Okie dokie. Autumn figured she'd find where L was keeping your locked away, so she infiltrated this police station, see, and grabbed two random files. One was useless, but the other was quite interesting. Had some funky stuff about this random building being built under a big name in Japan. I looked it up—dead end—so I thought 'Why not L?' Yup. Same building and everything. Well, turns out that belt of theirs not only allows them to contact L. You just so happened to mess around my Matsuda's belt, no? While you were figuring out how the thing worked that one time you disassembled it, I implanted one of my cams in it—sends the same signals and everything—and I just so happened to get the most marvelous recordings of the police's interactions with L._

_Why didn't Beyond tell me about this?_

_I didn't tell him, _sniffed Trey. _Thought about telling Autumn, but I didn't want her to listen in when she was too busy being freaking awesome. Seriously wanna know who taught that kid._

_Join the club. _I returned L's unwavering stare with a passive one, but not submissive. _Anything else I need to know?_

_We'll cross that bridge when we come to it._

I took another sip of tea and waited for L to speak again. Defense was the best offense, and I wasn't about to overextend myself and risk slipping up.

Oh, what the hell?

"How are you treating the police chief? Surely his confinement didn't end so soon." I watched L closely for any signs that might give him away, but none presented themselves.

Hold on. If Soichiro requested to be locked away, the how the heck did he pull me from jail and bring me here? He didn't have a twin, did he?

_Your psychopath might be onto something when he was rambling about God-knows-what and all that Doctor Who crap. My guess is that the two sides of the paper were never meant to bleed through: we don't belong, and now our very existence is screwing up the whole world._

Jeez. Talk about a drama queen.

_First of all, Beyond is not my anything; the guy pretty much does whatever the hell he pleases. Secondly, any way we could cut the chase? I'm kind of a sitting duck right now. Third, can you get into the front camera again? I was told that in your time, you're watching my future through cameras planting at the front of L's crib; if our existence in the world really is messing everything up, we need to be ready for anything ASAP. If there are two Soichiros waltzing around, I need to know whether or not they're from their individual worlds or just multiplying in order to keep up with recent events. Finally—ignore the fact that I sound like I'm high, drunk, both, or just plain crazy._

Trey snickered. _How's all that supernatural stuff going for you, anyways?_

_Bugger off, jerk._

It occurred to me right then and there that I was running very low on personal space.

And then I looked up.

L had one hand planted on the top of the coffee table, the cup of cherries in his other, and was cambered over the edge of the wooden surface in a stable arc. Though a good foot or two from me, he was much closer than before and the depths of his ebony gaze was a bottomless pit defined by no distance or conceivable measures. Just looking at him made my heart give an uneasy shudder—and knowing that he managed to take me by surprise worried me far more than the fact that I might have two angry Japanese police chiefs running amuck.

"Did you not hear me, Ishi-san?" prompted the man. I swear those soul-sucking eyes of his sparked up at me when he added, "Should I repeat myself?" but the dramatic sigh Trey gave me told me that my hormones were only playing tricks in the detective's favor.

Stupid idols. Stupid hormones making me obsess over stupid idols.

For the nth time that day, I absentmindedly wondered whether or not I should be keeping a tally of how many times L has made me mentally lose my composure, saying as calmly as I could, "We wouldn't mind all that much." I tapped my head for emphasis.

L's gaze remained unblinking. "I inquired about the methods by which you learned of the chief's quandary."

What the schist. Here I go throwing a bone to the poor guy and he completely ignores it? Most detectives would leap at the opportunity to tag me as some screwed up psychopath with Dissociative Identity Disorder or schizophrenia (and since L had already stashed Beyond away for the latter's "crime"...), but L would have none of it. Either he's extremely dense or freakishly perceptive enough not to take the bait. Frankly, I wouldn't put it past the guy to know it all and just be going through the motions to screw with my head.

Goddammit, KC, stop being so easily impressed! It's suppose to be the other way around!

_Women... _Trey sighed.

_Go trap yourself under a Solo cup._

The loctopus sent me a censored image of President Robinson flipping off the Secret Service (_long_ story...) and intoned, _Fine. Let's see how well you do with this guy if I abandon you. Maybe I'll be nice enough to record your fangirl-ing and _not _give it to Beyond as blackmail._

Bogan.

Redirecting my lacking attention to the detective at my twelve, I casually—and without toil—sipped my tea and replied, "What would any respecting parent do upon discovery that his or her child is suspected of horrendous crimes against humanity, especially if he is capable of preventing the offspring's arrest?"

L made no move to draw back as he continued to balance on three limbs without so much as a twitch. His muscles indicated no strain as he remained, his dark eyes not searching my face, but instead locking onto it with unequivocal paramount.

"By expressing your hypothesis with 'he,' would you be suggesting that Yagami-san's wife is less poignant?" he inquired apathetically, but I could sense the underlying dominion.

This was L's game, and he knew it. Better yet, he had long since had the rules memorized—they were in constant flux in accordance to his preferences. He made the game. He changed the game. All others were mere players, pawns, to his impulses. First calling me in as though to discuss the terms of my... cooperation? Questioning? But in the end, it all boiled down to asserting his dominance. Rather than outright ask my intentions and demand answers, L was throwing me for a loop—or two, or five—but I was developing the strangest sense that this was his strategy of interrogation. Abstract, indirect. Learning how to read the person before their native tongue. Throwing them off with haphazard actions and sayings, monitoring their every reaction and cataloging it in the back of his mind for later recollection.

It was all I could do not to openly gape at the man. If I thought Beyond was intelligent, L made him look like a kid playing dress up. This man was both knowledgeable _and _wise, and better yet: he knew it.

And I couldn't help but feel all previous aggravation formerly aimed at the detective slowly slipping away the longer I gazed into those obsidian depths.

Schist.

* * *

><p><strong>August 10th<strong>

Autumn had snagged a newspaper from a stand on her way back to the garage. The girl was positive that she had given the slip to anyone who might have been following her; she had taken so many turns and side-roads that she had had to sneak off with a map in order to relocate herself in the world. At this point, she had taken so many turns that the doodles of lines and Japanese only told her the name of the city, which was printed at the top in more understandable letter than the fashionable chicken scratch. There should be no way for someone to follow her... unless they were tracking her by satellite.

Groaning heavily, the girl slumped on the edge of the sidewalk on a less noisy street. It was a good mile or so from the main road, but it was still within city limits. Skyscrapers towered over her head, easily reaching thirty levels, and shadowing the narrow lanes for its five-hundred-foot length.

Sweat beaded on Autumn's scalp and forehead, which she wiped at with the hem of her gown. She didn't have a clue why no one bothered to stop her on the streets—heaven knows she wasn't dressed like a casual stroller—but she was grateful for the obscurity. The girl had grown to loathe staring ever since her parents passed away. After the day the news arrived, people stopped wanting to play with her. No one laughed and joshed, not one smiling face could be seen in a crowd of those who knew her. It was almost as if they were afraid to be happy around her, to remind her of the good times she could never have with her parents. All anyone ever did was look down on her with pity and apologize for something out of their control. "_It'll be okay._" She had come to hate those words.

However, as she now sat on the curb of the small, isolated road, Autumn couldn't help but to feel more alone than she had since that day.

Her parents dead. KC captured.

And her, Autumn, lost.

The map and newspaper layed in her lap, lifeless, like the inanimate objects they were. They did not taunt her subconsciously, nor could she make out any maliciousness in their existence. No resistentialism, no spitefulness. They were not out to get her.

She just couldn't read them.

The Japanese symbols sat on the limp papers, and that was all they did: sit. Kanji, KC had called them, but knowing its title did no good in the translations. No matter how hard Autumn squinted at them, nothing could be drawn from the swoops and jagged lines crisscrossing one another. It was a language, a foreign language, and now Autumn had to accept her fate.

Autumn had to accept that she was lost.

A quiet sob escaped her lips before she stop it, and her will vanished almost instantly afterwords. She didn't know where the tears were coming from, first in small trickles down her cheeks but miniature torrents seconds later. Silence instilled itself around her, for there were no cars, and the only sound audible was the occasional gasp for breath. Autumn form trembled, her arms hugging around her skinny body, imagining a much larger, warmer, more welcoming embrace. She was all alone, lost in a strange city where she knew no one and everyone spoke a funny, choppy dialect. No one bothered the weeping girl who kept her cries hushed. No one knew. No one cared.

Why did this always happen to her? Why did she always end up in places she never meant to be?

Why did everyone abandon her in the end?

* * *

><p>It had been far too long, but he could feel it coming back to him. In a way, it was almost like riding a bike: you never really forgot. It was all muscle memory, the slight of hand, the graceful jolt that transferred energy from hand to blade. One fluid motion and the shimmering diamond hilt was all that was visible of the knife sticking out of the wall. So easy to fling, so swift, soundless.<p>

Fatal.

Beyond dropped his outstretched arm and took a steadying breath. Across the garage, a good fifty feet from where he stood, KC's dagger stuck out of the metal siding at a perfect ninety degree angle from the wall. There was a mark six or seven inches below the knife where his first throw had been crooked; the blade had hit the sheet at a slight gradient and sunk sideways into the thin aluminium siding.

It took the man a few strides to reach this second appraisal, which he drew from the internal sheeting with an easy tug. This throw was far more accurate than the previous—the dagger had struck the center of a fold in the metal where it had been bent at some point. Not bad for a man in and out of prison/bedlam. Considering that the last time he had worked with deadly projectiles was when he had first taught Autumn to throw, and the fact that it had been so long ago that it had almost slipped his mind, he considered himself acceptably shabby. It was a shame that Naomi Misora never got to see that particular skill of his.

Raising the knife, he watched the light refract through the transparent patches amongst the translucent gray. The dagger wasn't made from unalloyed carbon—the chromatic impurities were a dead giveaway—but there was something about the intricate carvings along the hilt and the flat of the blade that made the varying materials seem to flow flawlessly from one substances into another. Though still diamond, he knew the silver to possess hints of nitrogen, but when the light flowing in through the dusty windows hit the gray foibles just right, Beyond could faintly see a trace of blue, possibly caused by boron. However, it was the darkest gray masked deep within the impurities that drew Beyond's eye. Bordering on black, his mind lingered on the idea of Carbonado, the strongest, naturally-occurring diamond—that also lined the drills that built the Panama Canal.

Such detailed knowledge he acquired at the Wammy House, and so little of it useful in the real world. When would he ever need to know the exact chemical makeup of diamonds or their various uses? They were training children to become the world's best detective, immortalized. What use had they of a jeweler's proficiency?

Regardless, BB couldn't help but to wonder how KC came by such exquisite pieces. The twin daggers were obviously meant for business, but the ornate decorum made him question their exact usage. The man also had an inkling about their previous owner, Lucifer Strange. If KC procured the knives from her old mentor, was it because she needed them or because Lucifer Strange did not?

The block in the woman's mind, the obvious dislike she held for the man despite her dreams telling Beyond otherwise, the unadulterated fury with which Trey protected her...

There was something about KC he had yet to learn. He had already discovered that KC's inspiration for creating the graphire was malign and he had a feeling that his ignorance followed in that particular wake, but there was something else... something he couldn't quite put his finger on...

During this rather spontaneous thought process, Beyond Birthday had returned to his previous point, standing at an angle, feet spread moderately apart, shoulders relaxed, fifty feet from the wall. It came to him naturally this time, no corrective action necessary, and he blinked slowly in time with his deep breathing.

The dagger clung to the wall with a steely grip, and Beyond's raised arm was the only inclination to the split-second movement prior. The mark from his first throw stood out like a sore thumb six to seven inches below the knife, but there was no such blemish from the second toss because the blade had sunk into the exact same spot; Beyond had struck the selfsame position as his previous throw, the two being judgmentally identical. Two impeccable throws back to back.

As Beyond lowered his arm, it was then that he realized something about himself in that very instant.

However badgering Trey or his hallucinated version of Alternate might be, without Autumn or KC around, the ex-serial killer felt rather... bored. There was no one to keep him entertained with asinine notions or spontaneous schemes. No crack-of-dawn giggle sprees, no mid-morning curses about lacking sugar, no one to follow and chastise halfheartedly whilst smirking, no intricate developments. Without the women, his life outside of confinement seemed to pale in comparison. For the first time in a long while, Beyond Birthday was honestly enervated.

A frown tugged on the man's lips as he went to retrieve the blade for a third time. While it was true that this was the most action he had seen in years, the first slow period of it all couldn't really be all that boring, right? Yet here he was, finally admitting that life was a little more bland without someone else. Not even A's phantom could keep up.

As much as it pained him to admit it, Beyond needed someone else around. He retreated into the back of his mind far too often, back into the darker areas and remembrances of his past, without someone to keep his attention. KC and Autumn had done just that, and now neither were here. BB didn't want to recess back into the madman he once was; he had been down that road already and had no desire to see it again. Though not much of a people-person, the schizophrenic felt a little more sane with those two around—probably because they were the only relatable people he had ever encountered. The detective/mafia underboss and her sniper/technician apprentice. Who would have thought?

Beyond plucked the dagger from the metal sheet and wondered when he had ever become so dependent on another being. Regardless, he felt his lips quirk into a smirk that felt all too natural on his face. How bored he was now, but his entire situation proved almost too comical for words. Not only had he been broken free of L's infuriating grasp, but he was getting a second chance to show him up in front of his new arch-nemesis and the world.

If L wanted to play with fire, it was indeed his turn to get burned.

* * *

><p><em>The first half of this killed my brain. I had a Stephen Moffat moment [fear of putting two "I'm the smartest in the room" people under the same roof] when writing the first half of this and I rewrote the thing only FIVE TIMES before I was ever happy with it. L is a hard nut to crack, but I really do picture KC completely losing her composure around him, if she still remembers the meaning of the word after this. XD<br>_

_I'm also beginning to notice a peculiar trend in my writing. I don't know how many puns/allusions I've made in the past few chapters, and I just realized that nobody got the joke behind the title of chapter twenty-one, Strange and Stranger, but I'm not saying a word; it's funnier if it comes to you. :3 On a side note, anyone remember the scene where KC pulled out the diamond lighter and made a remark about L playing with fire? Tada! We now have Beyond's reprise, with his own diamond artillery! Two down, one t—coughcough._


	26. Portal Guns and Paradoxes

_Dearest readers, I apologize greatly for my lack of... everything. Once again, I missed this story's anniversary and pretty much every other holiday. XD Hopefully that will change when I finally switch schools. Hooray for university! Maybe if I'm not trying to simultaneously earn an associates degree _and _a high school diploma, I'll have more time to work on CY._

_Devi__n__ Trinidad: Trust me, your review isn't excessive in the slightest. I LOVE long reviews! Firstly, let me thank you for all of your compliments and guesses; it makes me happy to see active readers hard at work! Regarding Autumn, no, she isn't part Time Lord, but her situation is certainly... unique. ;) Also, Light will get his screen time, just not the spotlight. As for your other guesses/imput, no comment~ (KC had instructed me to tell you that, on account of recent events, she has more or less been forced to rewatch Doctor Who and is proud to report that she loves the twelfth doctor, and that he reminds her of Grumpy Cat for some reason.)_

_Thou doth not own thy notebook of death._

* * *

><p><strong>Portal Guns and Paradoxes<strong>

**July 1st**

C'mon, KC. Get with the program. Gotta step it up.

"'He' is the correct term for a genderless pronoun in the English language," I spewed as collected as could be, my hesitation only slight in comparison to my inner monologue. Once again, my own narration killing me. "The Wammy House is located in the United Kingdom _and _one of the clues left by Kira hinted at his own multilingualism, which you obviously understood as neither of us would be sitting here had you not."

"Your accent is American, though you hide it well," commented L offhandedly, probably another one of his schemes to throw me off rhythm. "However, there is a distinctive European lilt to your speech that informs me that you spend much time integrating yourself into different cultures, often if not more than your dedication to immersing yourself into the Kira case. Based off how you act when placed under certain pressured situations, it is also obvious that you are well versed when it comes to the ways of the world."

There was a temporary pause in his speech during which the detective contracted back into his seat and popped a rather large cherry into his mouth, before continuing, "While you may appear to be knowledgeable on innumerable subjects, your erudition is rusty, your actions careless, your motivations driven by emotion, and," his eyes bored into mine with startling intensity, "you are far too impulsive."

...Huh.

So _that's _what he thinks of me. But all I can think to say back is to call him a social recluse.

"Thank you," I replied smoothly.

Trey snorted. _'Thank you'? You just got burned, KC. Admit it—this guy is way out of your league._

_He's still a detective, so we have _some_ common ground,_ I argued. _Besides, no one is perfect. The guy's gotta have flaws. As soon as I see an opening, I'll pounce._

_You will be waiting a long time._

I tried not to frown as Trey's tone instantly stunted itself into one chipper and dry. _No need to sound so-_

_Pay attention._

L's gaze remained locked onto my face whilst I was conversing/arguing/receiving-so-freaking-much-moral-support from Trey, and I swear I could see no gears turning in the back of his mind. Where normal detectives' minds worked like clockwork, L's had long since upgraded to the best technology of the age, effectively leaving the rest of us in the dust.

"Is something wrong, McGee-san?" prompted the man after a moment. Before I could response, he added, "Is your alias too unused?"

McGee. He said McGee.

Again.

I could feel my pulse pounding through my veins. Struggling to keep my voice steady, I said, "McGee stands out like a sore thumb in Japan. Do you have a problem with Ishi?"

He smiled, and for what felt like a century, all I could do was stare.

"Not at all, Katheryn Carpender. I was merely noting the extensive names behind which you choose to hide. Cherry?"

I felt my jaw drop.

Not five feet from me sat the World's Greatest Detective, his impassive expression unchanged. No clap of thunder, no dramatic chords in the background music—silence alone echoed after his words.

He knew. How the hell did he know?

L must have known just how badly he had stumped me, but nothing in his face resembled triumph. The ultimate actor—completely detached from the impacts he made on others. This was the man going after Kira.

This was L.

A seeming millennium later, I noticed the cup of fruit he had extended towards me.

Now I may have been shown up and had 'amateur' shoved down my throat, but I'll be damned if I just let him walk away with the trophy. I always was a bit of a sore loser.

"You're too kind." I plucked a dark cherry, almost black, from the depths of the seemingly ending cup. The tiny fruit was fresh; my microscopic reflection gleamed up at me in odd proportions from the taut, unblemished skin. When struck by sudden inspiration, I inserted the cherry into my mouth, stem and all. Mumbling around the fruit, I added, "Unfortunately, I can't use that name in public. Kira only needs a name and face to kill, and the second Kira even less. You suspected as much because of your previous incident with Beyond Birthday, no?"

Leaning forward, and finishing the loop in the cherry stem, I stuck the end of the tie out of my mouth and said, "Tell me, Ryuzaki, from one detective to another: do you think Misa Amane has the eyes?"

I hadn't expected the question to catch him off guard, but I did feel a little disappointed when he didn't so much as flinch. Then again, he did just figure out my name, or learned of it, or pulled it out of the freaking air. At this point, if he came right out and said that Light Yagami was Kira, I'm not sure if I could be any more surprised. However, I _was _caught off guard by the sudden hardness in his eyes. Had I not been watching him unblinkingly, I would have missed it: the slight dilation of his pupils and the extra cherry he crammed into his mouth.

Was it the Misa Amane comment, or the suggestion that she had eyes like Beyond's?

"Was this conclusion deducted from your trip to Aoyama on the twenty-second of May?"

This, regrettably, I had been expecting the moment I saw Misa's disguise. With surveillance cameras and police practically flooding the place, it was no surprise that as soon as L placed me in solitary confinement, he would be able to pick me out of any tape or description. On the downside, that almost meant that he had proof that Beyond Birthday wasn't really my hostage, but more of a partner in crime. Also, he had seen Autumn's face, and that thought sent a bolt of cold fear down my spine.

I was perfectly fine with being under L's watch—well, as fine as one could be in these circumstances, I guess—but so help me if L went after the kid... I just might be tempted to sick Beyond on him.

...Hold the phone. Speaking of Autumn, didn't she say something about fearing that the police might mistake us as Kira?

Crap.

Major crap.

Beyond had shinigami eyes that allowed him to a person's name and lifespan—just like the second Kira. Also, both Kiras needed a name and face to kill, which (to an outsider) might be why I hadn't yet killed L; I only had L's face, not his name. Furthermore, the three of us had been watching the Kira case as closely as anyone on the Task Force, so we knew everything about Kira that the officials did, and even more so since we knew for a fact that Light and Misa were the first and second Kiras, respectively. Beyond could also confirm this since he couldn't see their lifespans.

We had won. _I _had won.

I had found Kira, gathered the necessary proof, and located L.

Holy fizzle sticks. My plan, while foiled, had worked itself out in the end. There was just one last problem to solve:

In L's eyes, I had just gone from Ishi Satou, criminal extraordinaire, to being under suspicion of being Kira himself, with Beyond Birthday as the second Kira.

_Uh, KC? Hate to burst your bubble, but we have a bigger problem._

_Trey, I cannot take any more crazy today._

_I kinda think you'd want to know this._

My eyes met L's in an unflinching stare. The detective patiently waited for my answer regarding, but I knew it to be a test of some sorts, possibly to raise or lower the possibility of his suspicions. This was a game to him. A game of cleverness and skill, wit and daring. I was in his world now, playing his little game like the ignorant chess pieces that slaughtered one another without knowing why their instructions came from the heavens nor caring. So that might be a little more poetic than how I might normally put it, but dramatics didn't seem nearly as precarious enough for my current [literal] life or death situation.

_What? _I asked sharply.

_We can't actually prove that those two are the Kiras. Beyond's been doing some research on those two and... well, Light Yagami and Misa Amane both have lifespans._

I almost dropped my cup of tea. _WHAT?!_

_I don't know how, but from the time you met Misa to now, both Kiras regained their lifespans. Face it, KC, we've got nothing on them._

* * *

><p><strong>August 10th<strong>

A soft rustle of fabric drew Autumn's attention and, to her delight, a metal head poked out from under the sleeve of her hospital gown.

"Trey!" Autumn exclaimed quietly, scooping up the loctopus from her arm and peering down at the mechanism. The thing seemed intact, in perfect condition really, and Autumn had to giggle when it reclined enough to give her a wave with one of its barbed legs. "Hello to you too!"

Granted, so she didn't feel as alone as she had before, but the appearance of the loctopus didn't do much for her mood. Sighing to herself, Autumn sat the loctopus on the dusty ground and watched as he paused, twitched suddenly, and sprang to life, racing about in the dirt.

She wondered what he was thinking. KC and Beyond had their collars (in the present and future, apparently) and could mentally communicate, but they also had Trey. Autumn could only guess what the loctopus sounded like—would his voice be really deep and masculine, mechanical, shrilled and choppy? After all, the little thing had to watch over KC for many years and not lose his mind, if he had one to begin with. (Did artificial intelligence even have what could be called sanity?) Maybe Trey was KC's conscience, that little voice in the back of her head teaching her right from wrong. Or maybe he was modeled after humanity itself.

A slight prick around her ankle drew her attention to the ground in time to see Trey retract his leg and use it to point to the ground. Squinting, Autumn leaned over and gasped when she realized that tiny words had been drawn in the sand.

Trey was trying to communicate!

Autumn fell to her knees, carefully avoiding the words, and held her breath as she read 'need to charge the graphire, Beyond won't eat.'

"Got it," said the girl. She plucked Trey from the ground and put him on her shoulder. "I just need to get back to the shop, find the charger, and plug it up."

Seemed simple enough. Besides, anything was better than sitting around and moping. She was kind of like KC in that perspective.

* * *

><p><strong>August 10th<strong>

Beyond wouldn't lie: he was torn.

Of the four ideas he had constructed in the past few hours, all of them held the potential to "rescue" KC from L, but all of them required a certain amount of finesse that B himself currently lacked.

Finesse... and a jet plane.

The man let out a dreary sigh and turned the page of _Akazukin Chacha_, volume five. He found himself sprawled on a park bench outside of Yokohama, still in the Kanto region, but far enough away to feel as though he had some breathing room. Unfortunately, breathing room was the least of his worries.

One plan consisted of confronting L outright, stalking right down to his investigation building to give the man a good start. Obviously, this was not his best idea thus far, but it still humored him.

His second idea revolved around the Wammy House and getting some of the younger geniuses involved. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the old caretaker, Rodger, would kick him out in a heartbeat and contact L within the minute, but perhaps he could jog the memories of some of the older children. That way, he himself wouldn't have to go up against L; he could let his other little successors do the dirty work for him. Yet no matter how outrageous the plan sounded, Beyond knew that he would never let anyone get the chance to best L before him, not even Kira. It had come as a great shock to glimpse Misa's picture on a magazine cover and see her lifespan displayed under her name in floating red characters. Using the graphire to locate a picture of Light through To-Oh University's student directory had confirmed a much-dreaded suspicion: the Kiras had found a way to hide their identities from those with shinigami eyes. If this meant that both knew to hide themselves from Beyond, this was a very big problem, especially considering that KC, too, was currently at L's mercy.

Which brought him to his third concoction: using KC and the graphire to challenge L. By now, L would surely be sweating at the mere mention of Beyond Birthday's name, so anyone directly affiliated with him would likely cause the detective some distress. It wouldn't be much of a stretch for Beyond to tell KC just what to say to push the other man's buttons much like Beyond pushed KC's. Getting under others' skin was a proud talent of his. Yet despite its promise, this plan did little to humor Trey. The very thought of using KC as some middleman in B and L's twisted game sent the loctopus into a seething rage and Beyond did not feel the urge to experience ten thousand volts shooting through him any time soon.

These circumstances left him with his fourth option, which left a certain bitterness in his mouth. Autumn, however youthful and open-minded, had the strength of ten men and a brilliance capable of assisting BB in his endeavors. If Beyond could convince Trey to let them all put their heads (and skills) together, the man had an inkling that recovering KC would be easier done than said. That being said, he knew that if this plan in any way involved putting Autumn in danger and the girl didn't come out with all four limbs, KC would personally shred him into tiny pieces. Normally, Beyond Birthday feared no one, but KC's mother bear tendencies left little to the imagination. Hell, she actually admitted that she _needed _Beyond when Autumn started crying, so what would she be capable of if the kid did more than that?

Perhaps there was a fifth option, one he had yet to piece together using the clues he had gathered this far. He _needed_ a way to free KC without getting Autumn hurt, Trey pissed at him, Kira killing him (or KC), or L catching any of them. He _had_ a graphire/loctopus, a man on the inside, a six-year-old with superhuman abilities, a piece of Misa's death note, thirty thousand yen in cash, a diamond dagger and lighter, a picture of Misa Amane ripped from a magazine cover, the fifth book of a child's manga, and his own intellectual mind.

Closing _Akazukin Chacha, _Beyond raised an arm to shield his face from the scorching sun and pondered whether or not his sluggishness had anything to do with the graphire draining his body of energy. If only he had the screwdriver, he might remove the collar himself, but then he would lose an invaluable assistance.

The sun dipped lower in the sky as the man contemplated these thoughts, adding and subtracting from the overall plan, until the blue faded into a violet and orange mixture—a beautiful sunset dotted with fluffy pink clouds in the distance. It wasn't until the sun fell out of sight over the land that a thought struck Beyond and caused him to bolt upright on the bench.

KC was under suspicion of being Kira, and if the two Kiras had found a way to temporarily displace the blame, then she could be moved up to suspect number one. Instead of saving her, why couldn't Beyond find a way to prove her innocence without actually trying to sneak her out from under L's nose?

...No. That idea was simply preposterous.

Beyond fell back onto the bench with an aggravated grunt. He didn't like how muddled his mind became, nor the toll the graphire was taking on his system without KC to help support it. Now he understood the woman's sour attitude whenever she didn't inhale sugary substances like a drug addict. He might almost take A's hallucination over this feeling of over-dependence. He wasn't be forced into submission; the graphire submitted to him all too easily. It was truly a parasite, as KC had called it on more than one occasion.

Now he had a new plan: obtain sugar first, then KC.

* * *

><p>"Haven't you ever wondered what one could really see through the eyes of a god of death?" I said aloud, more to keep L from dosing off than to give him a real answer.<p>

Mentally, I found myself far more engaged.

_What the..?! Are you kidding me? After all of this time and energy and now we lose them because we can suddenly see their lifespans?!_

_What else could it mean? _Trey asked. _It's not like those eyes come with an instruction manual._

_What about her shinigami, Rem? Surely she would have explained a thing or two when she gave Misa that death note. It's not like the instructions were written in Japanese._

_I'll look into it as best I can, but I don't know when I'll be able to contact you. Your psychopath hasn't eaten recently so I'm having to shut down long-distance operations to conserve energy._

Well, crud.

Front and center, L remained in his crouched position, munching cherries like there was no tomorrow. He swallowed, made to pull another of the delicious fruits from the cup, and frowned when he saw that it was empty. The childish act alone made me want to get up and give him a hug, to which I mentally whacked myself in the head and ordered myself to focus.

Some good that did.

"An eye for an eye," L said, setting the cup down on the arm of his chair. Funny. I could have sworn that's what he said when he had me chained to a hand truck. "As guilty as you are of many charges I could easily pin on you, I have determined that you are not either Kira."

Huh?

"Furthermore, I believe that you know valuable evidence regarding a case that has only recently come to my attention. Considering that you are both a witness in the Kira investigation _and _this new case, I would like to make a proposal."

Forty years from now, I'll be sitting in my little old lady rocking chair and telling Susan's grandkids this story, and I still won't believe the words coming out of my own mouth. Especially since I went from being in solitary confinement for thirty-six days to having a thirty-second chat with L in order for the man to deduce that I was, in no way, shape, or form, a supernatural mass murderer.

If my fate had not been determined before, it was certainly written in stone now.

How had L gathered enough proof to say that I _wasn't _Kira? What had I missed that he had caught?

So I waited, breath hitched, as the detective focused his gaze upon me and intoned, "I would like to request your assistance for the Kira case."

* * *

><p>Autumn searched the entire garage top to bottom, only to discover the graphire's charging cable missing. With an irritated huff, the girl flopped down in the rolling desk chair and spun herself a few times before curiosity took hold and made her tuck her knees into her chest. To her disappointment, she didn't feel any smarter.<p>

Trey scuttled along the top of the desk and prodded the mouse to the desktop computer with a metal limb. The seven-year-old eyeballed the loctopus's movements as the screen flickered to life and the cursor raced across the screen. In its wake read the words 'AUTUMN. IT'S TREY.'

She blinked.

'I CAN ACCESS ANYTHING THAT SENDS OR RECEIVES ELECTRIC SIGNALS, REMEMBER?'

"Oh, yeah..." Autumn muttered. She grabbed the desk and pulled herself closer. "So where's the cable?"

'THERE ISN'T ONE ANYMORE. I NEED YOU TO MAKE IT.'

"Couldn't you have told me that before I ransacked the place?" Though spoken at normal volume, it still came out as a grumble. Sighing, she added, "It shouldn't take long."

It took her a few minutes to find the graphire (BB had wedged it in a sack in a hole in the wall behind the desk) and gather the supplies she would need. iPad4s still used the lightning connector, unlike their Platinum and Gold successors who used a holistic docking station, neither of which existed in 2007, so Autumn would have to make do. Through dismantling the desktop computer and splicing together some of the wires, the girl was able to adapt a makeshift charger from the scraps. Then she used some of the tools laying around the garage to crimp a lightning connect. The entire process took almost three hours. Booting her laptop, Autumn asked Trey to run a diagnostic to see if her cable would work as a charger. As soon as the computer hummed on, the confirmation appeared on the screen.

Autumn Virginia Hall had just inventing the lightning connector five years early.

She plugged up the contraption and curled back into the chair, one leg tucked under her while the other dangled loosely off of the seat.

How was is that she could pull off something like this but not manage to save KC?

"Argh!" she yelled in aggravation, slamming her open palm down on the desk. Trey launched himself onto the desktop screen to avoid the blow. "Why can't I just go back in time and keep her from leaving?"

The graphire sparked warningly.

Taking a deep breath, Autumn eyed the cable and wondered if Trey had been lying about its compatibility. She didn't know if KC's invention was one to cut corners, but if he was half as anxious as she, Trey might have been tempted to go ahead of take the risk. It was like drinking the water in Mexico when you were dehydrated, even if you knew about Montezuma's Revenge.

_It won't do KC any good if I fry the system when its one of the few things we've got going for her, _decided Autumn firmly. Leaning over the cord, she scrutinized the design once more but saw nothing out of place. Another blue bolt shot from the device, sending Autumn recoiling a good foot away, but the girl suddenly leaned back in when she noticed something that made her bite her lip: there was another crack in the graphire's screen. It hadn't been the cable sparking, but the graphire itself.

"How old _are _you?" Autumn whispered to the device.

In her fascination, she completely missed the words that popped up on her laptop screen.

Autumn grabbed the pair of gloves she had used when welding the tip onto the copper wire and slipped them over her hand. Taking the cord and graphire both into her hands, she turned them this way and that, trying to see just what could have caused such a mark. The condition reminded her of a human—having funny aches and pains that weren't necessarily caused by an outside force—but the slash appeared less jagged than the first, as though it had been made by a knife. The original mark cleaved the screen from one corner to that of the one opposite it, but it looked more from pressure than anything.

She loved a good mystery, especially when it involved electronics.

Suddenly, the graphire sparked again and a brilliant blue light blinded Autumn. The girl had enough time to register a hint of pain charging up her arms and into her body before the world was swallowed by a black wave, leaving an imprint in the back of her mind of the single word flashing on her laptop screen;

'STOP!'

* * *

><p>Beyond coughed weakly and raised his head. The agony had gone, leaving him crumpled on the sidewalk with no more pain than the bruises he had acquired when he fell. He rubbed the wetness from his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt—drool mixed with blood. His hand next went to his neck where he faintly remembered clawing minutes before; the area was laced in bloody scratches, but he could no longer feel any pain in that area. One look at the rest of him only caused him to dread trying to stand.<p>

Almost all of him with covered in the sticky red substance.

Glancing around and seeing no one in the park, Beyond dragged himself out of sight behind some bushes framing the playground where he lay, panting. He didn't like being this feeble and exposed. Even more than that, he hated not knowing what had happened to him.

Sitting under the ever-darkening sky, he watched as, one by one, stars began to peek through the city smog in the upper layers of the atmosphere. They glowed so sparingly, fighting to make their presence known, but the street lamps lining the edges of the park drowned out their meager light once darkness fully fell over Japan. (He almost pitied the stars.) Beyond spat the coppery substance from his mouth and wiped it from his eyes with his other sleeve. The air stank of his blood and, strangely, cotton candy. Somewhere to his left, he heard a gate swing shut and a chain dragging over the ground, locking in place; Beyond was now locking in the park with his own body fluids.

He could remember getting ready to leave, gathering himself physically and mentally, watching the children scamper about the playground as he skirted it along the walkway. And then something exploded inside of his head—pure, unadulterated _dolor_—and he collapsed. How long he lay there on the cement, convulsing and trying to rid himself of the source of the pain, he couldn't form an exact time frame, but it couldn't have been long. Beyond had passed out sometime during the experience, but woke to see the end of the sunset. He estimated the entire ordeal to have lasted anywhere from three minutes to seven.

Grunting softly, the man ran his hands over his body, checking for further injury but confirming his previous speculation at having mainly attained physical harm from falling.

What had happened?

Where once lied a smirk now sat a deeply-etched frown. Beyond Birthday did not like surprises, or at least surprises where he was on the receiving end. Massaging his neck, which had just begun to throb, he ran through the possibilities until his mind noticed something.

The back of his mind was unnaturally silent. No... it was _naturally _silent.

The graphire was gone.

His mind reached out for the trio of devices, much like it had KC days before, only to come up empty once more. It was as though the entire ensemble had simply up and left. Trey was gone. The graphire was gone. His subconscious was his once again.

More importantly, he had lost his best hope to get KC back.

* * *

><p>I won't lie: my mouth dropped. Again. However, instead of a reply, what came from it was something akin to a bloodcurdling scream.<p>

Pain rippled through me like a malevolent shock wave on steroids. I tumbled off of the arm of the chair, head smashing against the coffee table, and slammed into the floor where I lay, unmoving, as spasms caused my body to twitch uncontrollably. My vision blurred and time contracted into a dull lull (seeing as my brain had more important things to worry about). Jaw clamped tight, I struggled to keep my flailing from getting myself hurt, but something strong wrestled my shoulders to the floor and pinned my arms to my sides. A loud voice echoed from somewhere above me, but I couldn't make out the words. Just when I thought my head would explode from the sheer pressure inside of my skull, a powerful convulsion threw off whatever had been holding me down and wrenched open my mouth. I had barely enough time to turn my head to the side before I vomited all over the pastel rug. Practically hacking up a lung, I managed to prop myself up on my elbows where coughs stole my remaining energy. When all was said and done, I rolled over onto my back, wheezing, and stared up at the pale ceiling.

Somewhere out of my line of sight, I heard a phone snap shut. L's face leaned over me a second later.

"Watari is on the way with medical assistance. He will be here soon. What do you need?" No nonsense or sugar-coating. Man, I was liking him more and more.

"A million alcohol swabs, a cup of ice water, and enough barbiturate to kill somebody," I croaked.

...That statement probably wasn't helping my case.

L wasted no time in vanishing into the other room. "The carpet can be cleaned with far better suited supplies, but barbiturate will do nothing for seizures," he stated, returning with a dark brown mug which he extended to me between forefinger and thumb. It then occurred to me that there wasn't a sink in the kitchenette.

Yummy. Bathroom water.

I took the mug regardless, sat up, and sipped its contents. It wasn't as cold as I would have liked, but it certainly helped. Running a hand down my face, I froze when something wet clung to my fingers. My arm lowered.

Blood.

Shoot. I must have hit my head harder than I thought.

Speaking of—"The barbiturate is for this," I said, pointing to my split skull. But as soon as I spoke, I realized that it didn't hurt half as much as it did before. In fact, the pain had greatly reduced itself to a slight pulsing sensation. It was more of a discomfort now. And speaking of discomfort, I managed to shift my sitting position into an awkward crouch with one hand bracing against the floor, which swooned precariously underneath me.

I instantly felt sick again, but refused to budge.

L, on the other hand, seemed fine. He hovered over me with those owlish eyes of his roaming my form, taking in every shudder and swallow. His expression hadn't changed a bit in the past few minutes (did he get plastic surgery to keep it from changing?) but the sharp look to his eyes told me that I was being silently judged for every move I made.

So much for impressing him.

* * *

><p>Wincing, Autumn looked around the automechanic shop, feeling considerably more confused than she had moments prior. A funny tingling sensation laced her spine, but she felt okay otherwise. Trey flung himself from the screen of the desktop computer and skittered across the tabletop, wildly waving his legs like he was on an out-of-control carnival ride. Autumn had to giggle at the loctopus's antics.<p>

He could be so silly sometimes.

Despite Trey's odd sense of humor, Autumn couldn't help the familiarity of it all, especially the tingling. She reached around the tie of the hospital gown and ran her fingertips along the hardness of her backbone. It felt fine, so why did _she_ feel so uneasy?

A thought slowly rose to the front of her mind and Autumn latched onto it like a life raft before it could escape; her first memory made in this world. She saw herself in the hospital bed, asking the nurse about her aunt. She saw the doctors walking past her as she made her way down the hallway, trying to find KC, and answered their questions about where she was going. _"I'm looking for Auntie Jess. They said she was in a room on the third floor."_ She saw her hand reach around to rub at her back, frowning to herself as though thought alone might dissipate the weird tingling.

Her eyes widened. It was the same feeling.

_Another timeskip?_ she wondered. Fear nibbled at her, but she shoved it away as best she could. Fear was good; embrace her fear; it made her human. But she wouldn't let it take over. All she had to do was check the date on a newspaper. (Thank goodness most newspapers wrote it in English.)

This time, she remembered to change clothes.

So by the time Autumn hit the streets once more, night cast its eerie darkness over the Kanto region. A warm breeze tickled Autumn's bare cheeks as the girl shoved her hands inside of her hoodie pocket. The dark green shirt was easily three sizes too big, but she hoped it didn't seem all that noticeable from a distance. All she wanted was to sneak a peek at a newspaper and return to the garage. Nothing more, nothing less.

Her sandals tapped softly against the pavement with each footfall. Every step brought her closer until she finally located a newspaper dispenser. Elation spiked as Autumn skipped the last few feet, keeping a tight grip on the band of her capris-turned-pants, and ducked down to look through the glass. Promptly, her heart stopped.

The date read the first of July, 2007.

* * *

><p><em>And that, boys and girls, is the chapter that took me exactly seven and a half months to write at a little over five thousand words. *passes out*<br>_


	27. How Beyond Birthday Stole Christmas

_You know, the name of this chapter was supposed to be Lady Luck's Conspiracy, but I swear the characters up and decided to do whatever they felt like without asking me first. Some days, I feel like I'm writing the biography of nonexistent people instead of a fictional work. -_-_

_Trich: Six hours? Yowza. You remind me of someone I know in real life who devours three novels a week. I wish I could read that fast._

_Mythological Stories:__ Personally, I can't wait to write the reunion of KC and Misa. But sadly, Light must come first, just for you. :P_

_WildfireDreams:_ _Goodness! That takes some dedication right there. I commend your efforts. Hopefully this chapter is up to caliber!_

* * *

><p><strong>How Beyond Birthday Stole Christmas<strong>

He didn't think much of it when he jumped the park fence. His own body felt perfectly fine now—a little woozy in the head, but overall... okay. This drew a small frown across his pale lips as he meandered his way around the city. At night, Yokohama was a rather strange urban concentration. It reminded him of New York City with its insatiable need for attention via brilliant lights. Here, the street lamps glowed brightly enough to challenge the sun's authority during the day, as the night was their domain. The largest difference resided in the lack of the Empire State Building to tower over the smaller skyscrapers; Yokohama did, however, possess an equally interesting skyline, as very few cities in the world could claim to have a ferris wheel larger than the majority of their buildings. Also, the peculiar construction a few blocks away had a roof that slanted upwards to one side. Beyond almost fancied himself a visit had his mind not been as preoccupied.

His belongings now tallied to an unreachable man on the inside, a six-year-old with superhuman abilities, a piece of Misa's death note, thirty thousand yen in cash, a diamond dagger and lighter, a picture of Misa Amane ripped from a magazine cover, the fifth book of a child's manga, his own intellectual mind, and the ever-present worry that had begun to intensify after realizing that the graphire was inaccessible.

Worry.

If Beyond said that it was a new feeling to him, he would be lying, but to his credit, he felt surprised to admit to himself that it had never happened to this particular degree before. For once, he wasn't worried about himself (or, on an even rarer occasion, A).

To further continue the trend of honesty with himself, Beyond had to acknowledge the ease he felt at not having a loctopus or a woman or a child hovering over him. It was familiar. Pleasant, but not soothing. Beyond became neither complacent nor daunted by this loss, simply... himself. Confident, free, and just a little bit arrogant.

And he loved it. If anything, he was no longer restricted.

Perfect.

Without the assistance of the graphire, his memories flashed in the back of his mind. He saw himself as Rue Ryuzaki, private investigator, running around with Naomi Misora in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles BB Murder Case—starring Beyond Birthday himself in both roles as criminal and detective. He had set out to topple L's kingdom from the inside out, hitting him where it would hurt—his pride as a justice-bringer—and sacrifice himself to the cause. Beyond had been prepared to die then. He had taken risks. Most of them payed off. Even now, the lessons learned then provided him with great insight now.

...So why didn't he do it again? What was stopping him from delving back into that genius mind of his and constructing another plan? Perhaps he feared failure. After all, L had beaten him once, so it was therefore only logical that he might suffer the same fate.

But no. That wasn't right. He didn't fear failure. It was more than that. Something new. Something, some dynamic, that had changed between himself and L.

KC.

While the obvious answer, Beyond knew it to be correct. L had KC. The woman wasn't exactly a weakness of his, per say, but more of... an ally in distress. Beyond understand that an ally, by practical definition, was a weakness in the hands of an enemy, and as he remained in denial that she had secured his respect, he regrettably acknowledged that even without Trey's badgering and threatening, he would feel a bit guilty at leaving her at the detective's mercy. As he had stated before: no one deserved a fate that cruel.

Sighing loudly, Beyond scanned the horizon and wondered just when his life had become to complex. An orphan. No family. In a foreign country. No connections that could be easily made. Yet he walked the streets of the second largest city in Japan not ten miles from Tokyo, from L. He could see L's building from here. Of all the monotonously shaded grays and browns of the skyscrapers around it, the outside of L's headquarters was made of one-way glass, probably bulletproof, that reflected the world around it. As much as the detective tried to blend in, he always had that air of self-importance that inevitably made him stick out like a sore thumb sometimes; all one need do is know how to look.

Suddenly, a thought struck him.

_Kingdom. Distress. Justice-bringer. Arrogance. Glass._

Beyond felt his smirk returning, a slow curling of his lips into a sinister corkscrew never meant for the human face, for in that moment, he began to formulate an idea. A awful idea. Beyond Birthday got a wonderful, awful idea.

It was Christmas. B was the Grinch. L was the mayor of Whoville.

If L is a genius, then BB is an extreme genius. If L is a freak, then BB is an extreme freak. And if L decides to take things that don't belong to him, then BB will just have to take them back.

"Merry Christmas, L." _I'm coming for you, Katheryn. _"And a happy New Year."

* * *

><p>August tenth... to July first? Of the same year?<p>

Autumn's hand slipped from the front of the newspaper dispenser, eyes blindly staring through the grimy plastic and the horrible truth it concealed just out of reach. Her mind whirled in a frantic attempt to process this new occurrence.

"Trey, how is this possible?" she whispered, her other hand fisting in the material of the hoodie.

On her shoulder, the loctopus clung, unresponsive.

_July first... Okay. Another timeskip thingie, but backwards, _she told herself, but it didn't reassure her in the slightest. _It happened just like before—faulty electronics and an electrical misfire._

And herself.

It didn't hit her like a freight train, but it also didn't dawn on her with the delicacy of a butterfly's graceful landing. Instead, it approached like a tsunami: the shadow could be seen ages before the wave toppled the helpless city and drowned the people within. This was how Autumn felt—trapped, paralyzed. The enormous wave of dread smothered the logic from her forethoughts and all Autumn could do without completely losing her head was shove her right hand back into her pocket. She felt her fingers weave together, as though hugging for a vague sense of self-comfort that their owner couldn't provide.

It had to be a coincidence. It just had to. There was no way _she _could have caused all of this. So she had wired a WiiTii wrong. Big deal. And now she had tried to make a lightning connector for the graphire, but it had been the old iPad4 itself that had sparked, not her makeshift charging cable. Autumn wasn't to blame. It was just coincidence.

She wasn't lying to herself.

_"__Autumn, there is no such thing as coincidence. Just like writer's block, it's all in your mind. We don't live on a secluded island in the middle of nowhere; everything we do affects something else. All we have to do is learn to connect the dots. All we have to do is remember that 'coincidence' is a term coined by people who can't see the connection."_

Turning, Autumn bolted back down the street towards the garage and away from the memory of her mother's advice.

* * *

><p><em>Trey, I know you said you were trying to conserve your power, but I need to know what's going on. It felt like the graphire backfired.<em>

Running a hand over my head, I located the source of the blood and, to my surprise, it wasn't coming from the bash on my noggin. Somehow, whatever pressure I had been feeling inside of my skull had been real; the blood had seeped out of my nose and eye sockets. Knowing this, I quickly checked my ears but came up empty.

At my twelve o'clock, L continued to hover without offering to help. By now, my feelings towards his stare had progressed from impressed to creeped out to annoyed. Seriously. How much staring did it take to analyze someone?

A knock on the door drew the detective away long enough for me to catch my breath. I realized with a jolt that it was probably this Watari person and opened my mouth to call after L. Color me surprised when the black-haired man returned before I spoke and offered me something between his forefinger and thumb, much as he had done with the water. Bemused but refusing to show it, I took the shiny package and glanced down at the cursive writing.

Baby wipes.

Dear God, this man has a sense of humor. Sincerely, Lost in Austen.

"Close enough," I muttered to myself and tore into the package. Not two minutes later, I crouched on the floor feeling considerably better than I had two minutes prior. I set the remaining baby wipes [in their little shiny covering] on the evil coffee table next to their bloodied companions and gave L a formal nod.

Like hell I was thanking the guy.

"Do you require further medical attention?" L asked, a thumb probing his mouth.

A normal person might have already taken me to the hospital or checked for a concussion... or did L have some sort of medical background? Then again—the World's Greatest Detective probably picked up a thing or two over the course of his life. For all I knew, the guy could have a doctorate stashed under his pillow. That, or people dropping to the floor, spurting blood, was considered "normal" in his line of work.

"I'll live. Comfort is irrelevant," I grunted. Risking face-vaulting onto the carpet, I heaved myself to my feet with one arm bracing against the back of one of the chairs. Surprisingly, the world didn't start spinning.

"Now," I said, clearing my throat, "I believe we were in the middle of a business proposal."

L regarded me with an unwavering gaze, and for once, I could almost picture the gears turning in his head. Slow and deliberate.

"I wonder…" he mused aloud, shuffling closer. His lips drew back as his teeth nibbled his thumbnail with astounding precision. "Does your mental constitution influence your physical capabilities and homeostasis?"

My mental constitution? Physical capabilities? Homeostasis?

_Oh. _He might be referring to my body's weirdness from being disconnected to the graphire for so long. The jet-lag-like symptoms, how I'm able to function on so little nutrients…

But because I was growing fairly sick of his game, my mouth opened and my foot leaped in.

"I don't typically leak blood from superior orifices," I said with a hint of amusement at my medical terminology—_Thank you, Susan_—"but if you're referring to the unnatural fundamentals of my vitality, I assure you that this is perfectly normal."

Normal. Yeah. I'll believe that when pigs fly, and by the look on L's face, he wasn't buying it either.

* * *

><p>"Rue!" Autumn yelled as soon as she burst through the door of the garage, then froze. If it really was July again, what if she accidentally crossed paths with her past self? BB and KC mentioned paradoxes in one of their secret conversations that the man later relayed, and they were suppose to be pretty bad.<p>

Gulping, the girl sneaked into the back office. When she flicked on the light, her eyes landed on the graphire and its varying components; she grabbed the sack from where she had discarded it on the floor, swept the entire ensemble into the bag, and flipped it onto her back. Autumn stuck her hand in her pocket and withdrew Trey. She set him on the tabletop, accessed the laptop and awaited the words that would flash across the screen moments later.

Nothing happened.

Autumn frowned and poked the loctopus with a fingertip. He just sat there like a bump on a log, unmoving. Hmphing loudly, the girl fell into the desk chair and spun around a few times to clear her head.

"Trey?" she asked uncertainly after a while.

The loctopus remained unresponsive.

Now worried, Autumn leaned back over the desk and prodded him again. Still, nothing.

Her brow furrowed. Had something happened to Trey? Was it because of the timeskip? Or was it because BB hadn't eaten anything, as Trey had mentioned earlier? Her hand slipped under the cool, metallic body as she cradled the device in her palm. Trey's form was completely stiff, frozen in a permanent standing position with his legs uncurled. A shiver laced Autumn's spine and she quickly—carefully—folded in his legs. After all, she didn't want one of them to get snapped off. She didn't know if losing a leg would hurt, but he surely wouldn't appreciate waking up to find himself missing a limb,

But with Trey unconscious, Autumn was alone.

The thought struck her, accompanied by fear and loneliness. She missed her mother. She missed KC. As much of a stretch as it might have been, Autumn kind of missed B. She never asked to be thrust into this strange world—in the past, but not the same past as she had learned about in history. And she was tired, so very very very tired.

In a last-ditch effort to do something, anything, before she started crying, Autumn snatched up her laptop, sunk into the not-so-comfy desk chair, and recalled her training.

* * *

><p>The moment the lavatory door shut with a dull thunk, L telephoned Watari.<p>

"What is the current location of Yagami Soichiro?" inquired the detective in an undertone.

"His belt indicates that he is still in solitary confinement." The answer came almost immediately.

L reached for the cup of cherries, only to draw back his hand in disappointment when he remembered that he had eaten them all. Instead, he put his hands on his knees and rested his chin atop them. _Interesting… I specifically requested that Mogi apprehend Katheryn Carpender so that I might interrogate her, but I recognized the voices of Yagami and Matsuda outside when Aizawa left. Yagami has remained inactive in his cell throughout all of this, yet there could have been no mistake in my hearing. Furthermore, Carpender's sense of time seems to be impaired, as well her physical disposition, though she claims to nothing out of the ordinary. I can only conclude from this that the observation skills of those around me are deteriorating or have been discombobulated, I am growing old and are losing my hearing and ability to recall particular events, or…_

Light and Misa didn't remember being their respective Kiras. It was like someone had flipped a switch—they were guilty and silent, and then honest, earnest, and innocent. Perhaps something had affected their minds as well.

"And what of Matsuda?"

"He awaits further instruction in the hotel lobby with Aizawa."

L picked at the inner seem of his pants as he mulled this over. Drawing a deep breath, he said, "Watari, please send me today's tapes from the hotel's surveillance cameras. And while you're at it, I would also like the recordings from the Los Angeles Asylum dating a week before the explosion to whenever the tapes run out, the psuedo-surveillance from the San Francisco Asylum, all of the files from the Los Angeles BB Murder Case, Backup's assessment documents from the orphanage, and the personal files we have of Naomi Misora."

There was only a two percent chance that Naomi's death had anything to do with her previous affiliation with Beyond Birthday, but when it came to the man who became a monster to spite L, the detective didn't want to take any chances.

"Understood."

L hesitated. His next request may seem odd at a time like this, but the beginnings of a certain suspicion drew him to an uneasy conclusion. Forty-six percent was simply too large a probability to ignore.

"Do you need anything else, L?"

Leave it to Watari to be able to pick up on such things like this. L smiled to himself and said, in an even lower tone than before, "Please contact Rodger and ask him to relay the tapes of Backup's last day at the orphanage, specifically their final conversation."

Watari confirmed the request and offered to bring a slice of cake whenever L next required his presence. No sooner than L slid the phone back out of sight did KC emerge from the bathroom, running a hand down her face, and appearing far more worn that L had witnessed during her confinement. Instead of seating herself in any of the assorted chairs (or beanbag), Carpender—no, _Satou Ishi—_braced one bent leg against the arm of the chair, as she had done before, and cast him a look struggling somewhere between apathetic and curious.

"Which came first: the chicken or the egg?" she prompted.

_What in the world? _L wondered. Of all of the things he had predicted to come from this woman's mouth, a philosophical question was amongst the smaller percentages of them all.

Before he could reply, Satou clarified, "Who was the first Rue Ryuzaki? You or him?"

While that statement clearly made more sense, L ran through his head a list of possibilities of why Satou would choose to word her question so vaguely in the first place. Were she trying to impress him, surely she would have come to understand that a broad vocabulary or complex sentence structure generally relating to a metaphysical line of thinking would not "do the trick," so to speak. He was L. He stood for justice and all that was good in the world. He existed to protect the world from people like Kira, fake justice, and open criminals who sought to worsen other's living conditions. Yet the only instance where he had been asked a question so intricate that it had left him defunct for days had been when Watari had asked him if he preferred ice cream cake or pineapple cheesecake.

"Rue Ryuzaki does not exist. It is a persona as easily accessible as slipping on an outfit," said L noncommittally.

But he remembered the original. A detective. An imposter. Rue Ryuzaki was only a shadow of his past, a name used to taunt him. After all, 'r's and 'l's bare similar sounds when spoken in a Japanese accent. The name had been Backup's idea alone, but once defeated, L took it as the spoils of war, a reminder of what might occur if he didn't keep a closer eye on his potential successors. After Backup, there had been no other incidents.

L now acknowledged 'Ryuzaki' only when referring to himself. By defeating Backup through Naomi Misora, he had earned back his status quo as a detective, despite the public's ignorance. Back then, it had been his morality on the line, not reputation, but L approached it with the same vigor.

Beyond Birthday was the skeleton in his closet. The constant reminder of what L himself might become if he took a wrong turn. L's monster. Though he had beaten Backup the day Naomi slapped on the cuffs and dragged him away, L remained wary of the boy who claimed to be able to know the exact nanosecond when his roommate would die.

Backup had been seventeen when he committed his first murder.

_Did those eyes of yours enable you to see Alternate's real name along with his lifespan? Is that why the second Kira only needs a face to kill? Does that mean that both Kiras still need a name and face? And what did you mean by 'these eyes of death'?_

L almost wished he could hurry up this agreement so that he could rewatch the recordings from the orphanage.

"When you say that you want me to work on the Kira case with you, what exactly does 'working' entail?" questioned Satou.

"While you fell into a trap I intended for Kira, you found me regardless," L said, reining in his thoughts and focusing them on the current conversation. "Therefore you must possess some sort of intelligence, and as I must tie a name and face to Kira as he must do so to myself, you have been able to uncover my face from the word of a murderer alone. By placing you on this team, I will be using Jessica McGee's skills as a federal investigator but the unswayed drive of Satou Ishi. However," he steeled his tone just enough to emphasize his point, "you will remain under constant surveillance and must follow all orders without fail."

"I hope that last bit is negotiable. There's not much of a point in keeping me around if you don't want my opinion on things."

_But she says nothing about being watched... _L noted. In a way, Katheryn Carpender reminded him of Naomi Misora—a fiercely-independent woman with a strong mind and body. Perhaps that was another reason he desired to pull out Naomi's files again.

"Of the remaining questions that will be addressed on a later date, the most pressing is why you wish to work alongside me, Ishi-san," prompted L.

Wariness flickered in her eyes. L suspected her heritage to be somewhere between Asian and European, judging by the slope of the outside corner of her eye and the brilliant, yet darker, color of her green irises. Chinese, mostly, if he had to guess, with a hint of Irish.

"I don't believe in the supernatural," she began slowly. L could see her struggling to put together words in a way that would make sense in the way that her thumb twitched and wrapped around her curling fingers. "So you can imagine how this whole Kira business is going over for me. I never would have guessed that someone could kill via heart attacks without being present, but you... You managed to prove to the world in a single broadcast that Kira exists, where he was at the time, and the result of his killing method. If you ever questioned it, you never let it show."

A pause stretched out as her thumb elevated to her lips. Suddenly, Satou jerked the hand away as though startled, eyes lingering on her wandered limb as she forced it back down by her side.

_Interesting..._

"I told you that I needed your help..." Ishi stared directly into his eyes with startling intensity, "so that's what I intend to take away from this: Help. Just your help."

"What sort of help?" L inquired.

_What sort of game are you playing, Katheryn Carpender? Is this some plan you're enacting on Backup's behalf, or is this strictly your own doing? There is a mere seven percent chance that you will be honest with your next request._

"Well, first, I need to find my apprentice."

* * *

><p><em>I'm your only link to the outside world, regardless of which reality we're in.<em>

_Wait, then what happens if one of us were to jump sides again? Would we lose contact?_

_Perhaps. I suppose that in the future, you are already wearing the collar, thus enabling our current situation. Until I am able to concoct a stronger hypothesis, I will monitor this side of the paper unless something catches my attention._

Why didn't he see it the first time? It was so obvious.

The employee working the front desk at the Apple store sighed loudly as she fiddled with her name tag. It read 'Lucinda.' Other than her coworker restocking shells on the opposite side of the store, no other employees walked the floor.

Perfect.

Beyond worked on two different Macbooks simultaneously. Having come out during the previous year, they were among the best processing systems money could buy—and he needed the processing power. An internet browser ran on the system to his left, a database command prompt on the system to his right. Despite hacking To-Oh University's websites (known and otherwise), he could find no picture of the mysterious colleague students mentioned seeing with Light Yagami, though many reported him as Hideki Ryuuga, the only other student to score perfectly on the entrance exam. According to Google, Hideki Ryuuga was a celebrity and most certainly did not look like the few pictures Beyond had scrounged up from camera phones across the nation.

His leftmost computer currently displayed the clearest of the images: Yagami and Hideki standing side by side during the speeches. Both faces were too blurred for Beyond to make out any floating symbols above their heads, much to the schizophrenic's frustration. Furthermore, the bugs Autumn placed around L's building had yet to turn up anything of value, as L's face had always remained hidden behind the tinted windows of his vehicle. Beyond couldn't even confirm silhouettes at this point.

However, his _other _endeavor hadn't been proving as fruitless. He now knew the names of everyone at the television station and had enough information on each of them to make his move. Come August fourteenth—three days from today—L would crumble at his feet, and Beyond would walk away victorious and unscathed, with KC at his side.

And no one would dare stop him.

Within a matter of minutes, Beyond practiced this walk as he exited the Apple store. The employee restocking wouldn't notice the two display Macbooks missing for another ten minutes, surely, and by then, he would be long gone.

* * *

><p>By the time she finished the last string of coding, Autumn was too tired to stay up and see if her work would pay off. By the time she awoke the following morning, the crick in her neck was almost unbearable and her legs had gone to sleep from the knees down. By the time she managed to turn the pressure washer in the main room into a makeshift shower, her hands were sore from wrangling the tubes and wires into position. By the time she shoved herself into new clothes that actually fit, she was ready to go back to sleep.<p>

By the time she ambled back into the office, her laptop screen was alight with activity.

All weariness left Autumn as she flung herself across the remaining distance and fell into the desk chair. Her mouth dropped in shock and, after a long stretch of time during which Autumn wondered if this was too good to be true, delight.

"I did it." She voiced the thought aloud without meaning to, but now that she had spoken, the words wouldn't stop. "I did it. I did it! IdiditIdiditIdidit! _I _did it! Me!"

The smile exploded across her face. Autumn grinned until it hurt, but she didn't care.

_Young and naïve, huh? Hah! I'll show them what happens when you underestimate Autumn Virginia Hall! _she crowed. _My daddy was a spy and my mama was too! I'll show you what happens when you mess with a Hall!_

Autumn grabbed the company suitcase from the attic and began to pack everything she would need—which was everything she owned. She'd leave a note for BB, but in code so nobody else could read it; after all, she didn't want him to worry about what happened to all of the equipment. She packed her clothes, the graphire, and everything in sight she thought might be useful. (She even grabbed a spare toolbox from the wood-shopping corner of the garage and dumped its contents into the side pocket.) When all was said and done, Autumn plucked Trey from where she had left him on the tabletop before and looked down at him with the same big grin.

"You're welcome," she said with a giggle, and then slipped him into the hidden pocket of her denim shorts.

_Are you watching, Mama? Do you see what I can do now?_

* * *

><p>Once L realized that I wouldn't tell him more of Autumn's name than "Autumn," our conversation went along better than it had been going. At least I didn't get the urge to punch him in the face after he stopped trying to sneak an answer from me. On the bright side, at least if I <em>had <em>lost my temper and temporary control of my own body, Beyond would be thrilled that I socked the guy.

On the not-so-bright side, I didn't really _want _to punch the guy in the face, or any part of him actually. There was the teeniest, tiniest off-chance that inflicting bodily harm might somehow detract from his incredible mental capabilities.

Fuck it.

L is awesome.

There. I said it. Now, as much as I'd like to get on with my life, I don't think that's going to happen right now. After all, I'm not under the influence of any drugs right now, nor am I hooked to the graphire. In other words, my body wasn't under as much physical exertion as it normally is. Long story short: KC isn't sleeping anytime soon, boys and girls.

So after laying in bed all night, pretending to be asleep while the clacking of fingertips against keyboard could be heard from the next room, I decided that I was tired of pretending to be tired, especially when I heard the rest of the Task Force coming in.

This would certainly be a party I wasn't about to miss.

Dragging myself to my feet and adjusting my clothes so that I looked generally presentable, I threw open the door and meandered my merry way into the living space of the hotel room. Surprisingly, the officers had all taken seats around the blood-stained coffee table.

Matsuda. Some dude (maybe Mode, or something along those lines). Afro Du—ahem, _Aizawa._

And, of course, L.

I winked at Aizawa, who immediately shot L an indignant look and demanded, "Why the hell is _she _here?"

"Satou Ishi will be helping us during this investigation. Please treat her as though she were one of your own," L replied. He balanced a tower of chocolate-covered gummy bears on his spoon and plucked off the topmost with only his tongue after speaking. "Ishi-san, your new IDs will arrive by the end of the day, though I suspect that this will not be a problem for you."

"Nope," I said easily.

When in doubt, just roll with it.

"Are you really with the Department of Health and Safety?" Matsuda asked in honest curiosity that reminded me of Autumn.

"Hope not. I've only had one run-in with those guys and it was enough to make me consider getting restraining orders against the whole office." I paused, looking straight at L. "That's not actually going to be my cover, right?"

Picture the cartoon character whose head turns bright red and starts swelling with steam rolling out the ears. That was Aizawa.

"Ryuzaki, I demand to know why we're working with criminals!" the man exploded without ceremony.

"Truth be told, Ishi-san is a suspect and witness in a very pressing case I am working alongside the Kira investigation. It would be a waste to not take advantage of her skills in the meantime." The second gummy bear down met the same grisly fate as its predecessor.

"Skills?" Aizawa echoed in disbelief.

"Hold on, Ryuzaki. What other case?" Matsuda frowned. "I thought that the Kira case was the most important thing going on right now."

"Suspect _and _witness?" the third man finally spoke up.

"By all means, everybody speak at once..." I muttered and slunk around the group. Perching myself on the arm of L's chair, I raised my voice and asked, "Is it so wrong of the World's Greatest Detective to multitask? Or have you forgotten that he's only one person, regardless of where the world needs him?"

L fixed his owlish eyes on me with unnerving intensity, but I refused to meet his gaze. I've had plenty of practice dodging staring contests initiated by would-be geniuses, thanks. Besides, it's not like a butt-load of eyeballing would confirm that I only stood up for him to move things along. I owe him nothing, but I more or less need to keep on his good side. After all, supernatural serial killers aside, _if_ I could convince the guy that I wasn't crazy, and that Light and Misa _were _the Kiras, _and_ that I was a person from an alternative version of the future who really needed his help, I might need directions to get back home. Wasn't the whole point of my little endeavor to seek out L for his intelligence and get another mind working on this?

And now I'm a somewhat prisoner, somewhat asset.

Why does I always seem to find myself in backed into a corner when it comes to would-be geniuses? First my mind-amoeba goes and bribes his way out of jail and miraculously becomes a part of my ragtag little team, and now it's almost as if L is pulling the same trick on me; he needs me because my knowledge is valuable, but he can't let me go because I'm dangerous.

Speaking of Beyond, I could have sworn the guy once compared my personality to L's... but hadn't B used that "eye for an eye" saying a few times as well?

During my silence, Aizawa ranted his spill, and everyone in the room patiently waited for him to finish. By that point, he was practically smoldering, but his face remained the same beautiful shade of red as before. (Talk about control.) I ended up sinking from a half crouch into a precarious slump in the span of those very long minutes. Although his eyes didn't so much as flicker to my form, I had a sneaking suspicion that this didn't escape L's attention.

"Ryuzaki, what other case are you working on? Do we get to help?" Matsuda asked, exited and hopeful, but hesitantly.

"It doesn't concern you, Matsuda," L replied easily and the man in question deflated. "The reason I specifically requested to meet all of you here at this time today was not to discuss a case outside of our current investigation. First, you needed to know that we have attained another member, and second, there is going to be a change a pace. I need at least one of you here watching the containment of Yagami-san, Light-kun, and Misa-san at all times."

"Is this because of your 'other case'?" Aizawa asked, still sounding a moderately annoyed.

"Partially." L downed another helpless gummy bear before fixing his eyes on the police officers. "We will be working in shifts from now on. Since Matsuda planned on working by my side for the better part of today, he will begin this shift, and I expect one of you to take his place this afternoon."

"I'm guessing this excludes me, since I'll be with you twenty-four seven," I added.

"Would you still like me to continue running through the incoming files and other documentation?" Mr. Anonymity said.

"Please do, Mogi-san," requested L.

Solves that problem. But hey—I was close. It's really freaking hard to remember names when you don't have your memories backed up on an accessible harddrive.

"But what about my little family? I promised I'd spend today with my little girl!" Afro Dude protested with a furrowed brow.

Another gummy bear was licked from the top of the tower. "Which is why I'm giving you hours to work out a solution on your own. Every minute we waste is another person dead. Regardless of what obstacles we may encounter, we must bring Kira to justice, and we can only accomplish this by catching him. Please consider your families and your life when involving yourself in this case, but always remember those we have not been able to save."

Suddenly, the lights went out.

Everyone tensed, L excluded, and I felt my fingers instinctively search my body for a weapon and turn up empty.

"A power outage." Matsuda's statement sent Aizawa and Mogi to their feet. Other than this, no one made a move for a few seconds.

Drawing a phone to his ear—where the heck did he get that?—L pressed a button and spoke quietly into the receiver; "Watari, what's the situation." The conversation continued, mostly on Watari's part, but L translated the necessary bits.

The power was out in just this hotel, almost as if someone had shut off the breaker.

Horror movie much?

"I'll go check it," Aizawa started, reaching for his firearm.

"Me too!" Matsuda bolted to his feet and made to follow the older man to the door.

"If you go, you'll only be senselessly risking your life. Ide, too, rushing into a decision much like this," L reminded in an undertone, successfully stopping both men in their tracks.

Damn. I wish I had that kind of authority where people would just drop everything if I told them to. Using that kind of tone in the mafia would get you shot; using that tone in the White House would get you impeached, fired, or thrown in prison, and sometimes all of the above. Regardless, this felt too much like a setup to be mere coincidence. L plus secret Task Force plus little, ol' me? If this was 'just coincidence,' I'd eat my metaphorical hat.

"You don't happen to have any of my possessions laying within reach, do you?" My halfhearted request fell on deaf ears.

A soft clicking reached me, and I stilled myself as best I could. It sounded like someone with fiddling with the—

The entrance to the hotel room was knocked inwards with a loud smash and the door flew open, slamming against the wall without rebounding. Aizawa seemed to shocked to actually draw his pistol. Matsuda looked equally stunned. L—well, nobody ever knows what that guy's thinking because he looks more emotionally dead than Beyond. And as for me, I wasn't doing much better, because all I _could _do was stare.

The only difference between me and everyone else was that I recognized the person standing in the doorway.

Busted, the keycard slot lay on the carpeted floor in more pieces than I could count; a large, round impression generally accentuating where it had once hung. Shrouded in shadow, the individual stepped through the doorway and into the room, clutching two things in hand: the handle of an overflowing, dusty suitcase with a Toshiba laptop duct-taped to the top and a very blunt, very heavy-looking statue. Her dyed black hair fell around her shoulders in springy curls, bangs wrestled back out of her face with bobby pins. Dropping the statue to the floor, she jabbed a finger at the only woman in sight and swept her steely gaze at the room's other occupants.

"Gimme back my mentor," said Autumn in perfect Japanese.

* * *

><p>Beyond knew that something was off the moment he set foot back in the garage. It took him two minutes to sweep the entire building and reach a logical conclusion: the child was gone, and she had taken the electronics with her.<p>

Where once sat a desktop computer now lay mangles remains that might have once resembled technology. Coated in a thin layer of dust, it looked as though the desk hadn't been touched in weeks despite Beyond only having been gone for less than thirty hours. Furthermore, the graphire and the bag were missing, and the only things left to prove their existence were the things that had fallen from the bag and deeper into the hole in the wall. Beyond managed to recover KC's collar and square-inch hologram projector, and that was all she wrote.

_Timeskip, _he thought to himself. _So Katheryn was wrong. It's not alternating._

Shrugging to himself, BB acknowledged that he probably should have relocated long before now anyways, so he tucked the two metallic devices in his pocket, turned, and left the building, whistling a tune that vaguely resembled a holiday carol.

As he walked, he considered his belongings now. An unreachable man on the inside, a misplaced six-year-old with superhuman abilities, a piece of Misa's death note, thirty thousand yen in cash, a diamond dagger and lighter, a picture of Misa Amane ripped from a magazine cover, the fifth book of a child's manga, two brand-new Macbooks, a hologram projector, KC's collar, his own intellectual mind, and a plan worthy of a genius.

Life was good.

Beyond bent over to examine a water drain cover built into the ledge of the sidewalk. The grate was rusted and bent, the first fallen leaves pinned up against the bars, poised over the void whose gaping mouth promised nothing but the stench of sewage. It looked perfect for what he had planned, if only he could find another like it a few streets over.

During his quiet examination, a shadow fell over Beyond, who might have ignored it had he not calculated the length of the shadow to determine the person's height at about seven feet. The smirk morphed onto his face without preamble, and he didn't bother to hide it.

"I was wondering if you were going to show up," he said.

"You know," said a voice almost as rough as his own, "you're a really hard person to find."


End file.
